Blog Post #10

Let me preface this blog post by saying that I really enjoyed feature writing! I can't quite decide which I enjoy more, news writing, feature writing, or creative writing. I think I will continue to do all three! The most important thing I think I learned in feature writing is how to make my writing a bit more fun and colorful without straying too far from the topic. I have a hard time striking a balance between logic and creativity; a lot of times I will be a little wild and creative if I don't have an agenda or deadline to meet, but I tend to try and stay in between the lines if I do. Feature writing for me was incredibly fun and challenging because I did learn to mix the two, and I got to practice having fun with my writing without losing the point of it. The second most important thing I learned was how to cut things from my writing. I would often get my stories back for this class and see certain words that were cut out. I would get good grades, and the story itself would be really good, but I would look back over it and think, "oh yea, it does sound better without that word!". So I really just learned to reread my writing a bit more closely, and write just a little more concisely (some words don't have to be there; if they add nothing to the story, take them out!). The third most important thing I learned was about the different types of features and news stories. I'll be honest here, I followed news people on twitter and that's how I got my news. I never read the newspaper. However, now that I know more about features and stories and profiles and all that jazz, I have a new respect for the newspaper, and therefore am more interested in it. I actually even read the front page, and a bunch of features from the sections of the news I'm interested in. Even if it's not as efficient as twitter, it's still pretty awesome.

My writing has improved immensely over the course of this quarter. I have learned how to better edit, and how to catch things I previously probably wouldn't have caught. Believe it or not, I have learned to be a bit more concise (I know, hard to believe, since I just love words so much!) and not ramble on or be repetitive when talking about one topic. I learned how to be fun and exciting when I write without letting my opinions glare through and without making it overwhelming and distracting from the actual news story.

Of all the feature writing styles, I think I liked writing the profile most. I really enjoyed basically everything I did, but it was really fun for me to interview someone and just note everything about them, and turn it into a story! I adore people and getting to know them, so for me that was just a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed it. I honestly really enjoyed doing basically everything in feature writing, but if I had to pick my least favorite part, I would have said it was the short-form. Weird, I know. Clearly I should never go into graphic design. I think it may be because I'm not a terribly visual person, so thinking of some short, visual ways to present a story that I personally worked really hard on writing was difficult. I think in words, and I love words. Short pictures and graphs aren't my thing. The event story was also a little bit difficult for me. I still enjoyed it; it wasn't my least favorite thing, but it was challenging for me to put the mood and scene of an event into words. Not that I didn't like the challenge though :)

What's next for me? Good question! I wish I knew. I'm planning to continue to write for fun, and to work on my creative writing over them summer. Also, I may just keep a blog this summer; I'm planning to travel quite a bit, so that would be a great way for me to quickly keep practicing my writing. I also plan to write for La Voz in the coming fall! It sounds like a lot of fun, and a great experience, even if I don't go into journalism!