Another type of writing
After some exposure to the field in high school, I became interested in pursuing journalism as a career. I particularly liked consolidating many sources of information into a story that was both readable and enjoyable. In addition to writing for our school paper, I also had a column for a few months in our town paper.
My desire to be a journalist led me to Cornell University, where I enrolled in the Communication program. I did not join the paper, however, eschewing that extracurricular for the band (both marching and pep). Any writing I did was mostly academic, which was certainly a bit different than journalism.
Although I spent a summer in DC between junior and senior year writing for the publications of the National Education Association, I ultimately decided that I wanted to work for a nonprofit in some sort of marketing or PR capacity after graduating. This decision led to my employment as a fundraiser, first at a social services nonprofit, and then at a museum. Both jobs provided writing opportunities, though none that could qualify as true journalism.
I had been removed from the world of print media for several years before a new opportunity arose. We moved to our current town almost a year ago. To get up to speed, I subscribed to the local paper, a delightful weekly devoted exclusively to town news. A few months into my subscription, I noticed an editorial calling for community journalists. I was intrigued. I met with the editor and within a couple of weeks, I was the beat reporter for all things planning.
At first, I was rusty. It took me many hours just to compose a simple news brief. It was a challenge, but one that I was really enjoying. It has been a great way to get to know people and a crash course on the inner workings of a small town. Most of all, I get to call myself a journalist, which was something I set out to do more than a decade ago!
Hopefully, it won't take me as long to accomplish my next goal (working on it!), but at least I know that I have the ability to do just that!