Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Assimilating into the journalism world

Once again I am blogging late at night when I should either be a) working on homework or b) sleeping, but since my mother is my only reader at this point I think I do this just to annoy her (I am just kidding mom :) ). Today I found out that I am going to be made an official part of the Pendulum staff (our campus newspaper) and I am totally thrilled! The details are all still up in the air as far as pay and title position but I really don't care because I officially am a part of the staff and will have my very own page whose content I am responsible for every week! I have been reporting for the paper for 2 years now and have fallen absolutely in love with it. Perhaps its the excitement of a deadline or just the simple fact that I get to write, which I'm sure you can tell by now I love to do. Either way, I am so in love that this summer I made the very scary decision to drop my plans of attending law school next fall and instead pursue a career in journalism. Now, instead of having a concrete plan of what to do with my life I am in somewhat of a limbo.

I know what I want to do: move to richmond and be a reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and one day be a columnist. Basically, I want to be Carrie Bradshaw Richmond style and without all the sex talk (I definitely want her wardrobe!). However, wanting all these things is all well and good until it comes time to submit my applications along with hundreds of other very talented writers with the same passion, and very likely a lot more experience in the field. At this point I am not sure wanting will be enough. I look at all my friends at the Pendulum and their resumes are filled with impressive internships at major publications. Heck, my roommate worked at the Washington Post this summer! I know full well what I will be competing against: journalism majors with the experience and skills to boot. I, on the other hand, will only have a mildly impressive portfolio and large dose of enthusiasm to offer.

As a result, I have found myself desperately trying to play catch up with my peers who have been living for three years in this world that I only recently joined. I tweet every day now- a word I swore I would never add to my vocabulary. I try and think of insightful posts for this blog. I volunteer for way more Pendulum stories than I can handle in an effort to continue to grow my portfolio. And I pray that none of my efforts will be at the expense of my grades, as I am counting on my solid transcript to be a selling point to future employers.

I had not meant for this post to be quite as anxious as I am realizing it sounds. But this is what came out tonight so clearly it is what I feel. Stay tuned to see how it all unfolds.

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