i had an interesting conversation tonight which made me want to type further about it. yesterday, when my story was filed, i felt mostly ok about the fact that my lede and nut graf were re-written by my professor, joe, who emphasizes clarity over elegance. i like to strive for both, but probably write with less clarity than elegance. whatever. no biggie.
talking to a friend tonight about another classmate's writing, which she described as 'very narrative' - something she admired. something flashed in my head - not quite fully formed enough to be a thought, more like a determined note to myself in fetus form. i know that i'm losing my voice, to a certain extent, in being shaped to write hard news, but this bothers me less than it does others. i just don't care. there's no space for beauty in hard news ledes, you need to be clear and straightforward and present the facts. i think it's a good exercise for me, as i tend towards the willy-nilly school of getting to the point. but i think i can make a stronger case for retaining a sense of me. i need to stop rolling over during edits for the sake of getting the FUCK out of the newsroom before another massive headache comes on.
i re-read the story i wrote yesterday (ok, i really just skimmed the first couple grafs) and it didn't sound like something i'd written, mainly because it wasn't. and it didn't bother me so much as made me decide that i should publish things i've written and be able to recognize the damn things, right? right. this i will work on. this i want to do.
off to bed.
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