Hello, Old Friend

Sorry I haven’t visited for a while. It’s not you, it’s me.

It’s been a while since I last posted, but we will soon get this blog rolling again.

In the past month, I’ve been busy preparing for my job at the Valley News, a small paper on the New Hampshire/Vermont border. I’ve been practicing my driving in Florida and only got into accident in the process.

I’ve also kept my reporting and writing skills sharp by freelancing for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers.

For the past few days, I have been moving to my new home in New Hampshire and learning to drive my first car, a blue Toyota Camry 2003.

It’s a little frightening being this independent. Now that I’m alone, I’m going to have to rely on my own motivation to get out into the community and meet people.

And I’m going to have to conquer a deep fear of driving to find the best stories. I still have to get used to driving in unfamiliar territory, especially with the added perils of hills

One of the reasons I took this job was to make myself take risks and learn my limits. The risks do not take away from the job; they add to it.

I'm really excited to start the job. I'm hoping I can learn a lot and help many people.

Since I graduated from the University of Florida, this blog has kind of deviated from its original topic of journalism from the perspective of someone with autism. It's become more of a chronicle of my attempt to find a job, which is not what it's supposed to be about.

But now that I’m finally reporting full-time again, I’m sure I will find more interesting and less ego-centric topics to write about. I still have a few ideas to catch up on, as well. And I’m still planning on replacing this blog with a Web site when I find the time.

The Job, Part One: Hired!

It has been more than a week since I accepted a job as a temporary reporter for the Valley News, and it’s still hard to believe I finally have a job.

After sending about 115 job and internship applications, I’m excited to have found a newspaper where I belong. The Valley News was also one of the first papers to contact me about a job opening.

The paper, which covers towns on the New Hampshire/Vermont border, seems like a fun place to start a career. The editor, Jeffrey Good, is a Pulitzer Prize-winner and former reporter and editorial writer for the St. Petersburg Times.

The reporters and editors seem to really care about the quality of their storytelling. From what I’ve seen of the newsroom and read on the paper’s Web site, the staff seems intent on serving their readers and digging for the best articles.

I’m starting off as a full-time temporary reporter for six months with the possibility of being hired as a staff member afterward.

I’m hoping I can get some more experience with multimedia reporting while at the paper, too. I just bought a new digital recorder and plan to save up for a digital camera. I’m sure I will find a way to use them to find new ways of storytelling.

Here are the New Year’s resolutions I’ve made progress on so far:

*Earn driver’s license- Done, but I still need a car

*Get a job-Done

*Learn HTML & CSS- 2/5ths done

* Reading and analyzing articles- Check (Get ready for rants in the future)

I’ve split this post into two entries to keep it short. Stay tuned for the next part: where I freak out about the risks and rewards of the job.

P.S.: I might write/rant about something more timely before that, so this might be continued the post after next.

Downtime

Now that I’ve graduated, I’m realizing how much I must rely on my own self-motivation to develop as a journalist.

Without professors or editors telling me what to do, I‘m going to have to figure out how to improve my reporting and writing on my own.

It’s easy to fall prey to the frustration and apathy that can strike you in the middle of a job search, especially with the newspaper market in turmoil.

So I’m following my friend’s example and posting a list of what I need to do.

*Read and analyze news stories every day.

*Learn HTML and CSS- look for a Web site to replace this blog when I do.

*Read blogs about journalism and other subjects that interest me

*Learn how to capture and edit video

*Improve my audio editing and photography

* Freelance so I can still earn clips

* Earn my driver’s license soon

* Talk to people in the area to get story ideas and keep my social skills sharp