I’m so bad with updating this blog that, by now, all of you have probably checked out the following link. it’s been sitting on my bookmark list for ages but only today I had some spare time to pay this space a visit. it’s called stuff journalists like and… hmm, yeah, it’s pretty self-explanatory.
a few days ago i published a post with 5 reasons why i love my job. there’s a bunch of stuff i don’t love about my job (and i write “don’t love” to stop myself from writing “hate”). the first one i can think of is writing titles. i hate it i hate it i hate it. i never know what to write and sometimes the shortest title takes me longer to write than the longest article.
it might look like a minor issue but it’s not, really. titles are a very important part of a story and writing stories is one of the most important parts of a journalist’s job. when the busy reader is going through the pages of a magazine or newspaper or jumping from news website to news website reading headlines, the title is the decisive factor between reading or not reading the story.
when i was studying to become a journalist (or sort of), a journalist that i highly respect taught me that a good title should be informative, kind of like a sum up of what the article is about, something simple and direct. supposing that the reader didn’t have time to read the whole story, the title should be enough to let him know what’s been talked about. looking at it this way, it’s kind of like the title is the tool for the lazy reader.
so i’m confused: to we want readers to read our stories or not? should the title reveal the essential like that journalist told me or should it just attract the readers’ attention and make them want to know more about what’s being talked about? if that’s the case, maybe “informative” isn’t the best adjective to define a good title. creative or appealing, perhaps. and maybe it doesn’t have to tell much about what happened, forcing the reader to at least pay attention to the first couple of paragraphs of the story.
well, all this rant is to justify the fact that i suck at choosing titles. that’s it.
You can choose how you’re going to read this article, whether it’s as just me trying to tell you about the wonders of being a journalist or as me talking to myself and trying to convince myself of those wonders, to help me go through harder times (which also happens sometimes).
I became a journalist by choice, as I’m sure the vast majority did. Being a journalist is so hard that you really have to choose it and have a passion for it in order to survive it. When I say it’s hard, I’m not just saying that the work in itself is hard to do (although, yes it is). It’s, above all, hard to get into the profession and start a career. You really have to want to do it, otherwise it’s really easy to just give up and go knock on different doors.
Anyway, here’s a brief list of five reasons to love this job.
#1 unlike other jobs, I learn new things every day. Some of them are boring but others are really interesting. My job gives me a good deal of stuff to think about. I’m sure this happens to all journalists, whether they write about general stuff or specialise in one subject matter. If you’re a journalist, you’re forced to learn about new things every day, stay up to date with what’s happening around you. It’s hard work but there’s no better way of living.
#2 it gives me the opportunity to interact with different people all the time. I don’t need to tell you how cool that is, right? I really do feel this makes me a richer person.
#3 you feel your work is actually worth it because you often get feedback, whether it’s by someone commenting on the article with you or just by seeing someone holding the publication you work for or reading it online.
#4 I write. Plain and simple. There’s nothing I love more. Of course there’s more to it than that and there’s never a boring day in this job. But writing is definitely my favourite part of it.
#5 the fact that, no matter how many times I say I hate my job (and i do say it a lot sometimes, especially during stressful periods) and even wonder whether I’d prefer an easier life, I am deeply in love with my career. Not many people get to feel this way so this is something i feel really lucky for.
Vera Has a Website All contents of this website are, unless stated, written by me and represent my own opinions. They do not represent the opinions of those who might be associated with me.
