Journalistic style.

FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2009

The "journalism dream"...

I've decided to start another blog in the hopes of bettering my writing skills. I've recently applied for the creative communications joint program at Red River College and the University of Winnipeg, in the hopes of obtaining my degree in journalism. Over the course of the past two years I have been fortunate enough that have my tiny little world open up, as I have been exposed to the wonderful world of formalized education.

I love learning, and being aware of the world around me. I love the psychology of people, and dynamics of their actions, reactions and the reasoning behind how we all see and act within this world.

I am not going to limit myself to writing solely about politics however. I am also going to write as a columnist would, and cover the parts of life (like the NKOTB concert) that are interesting and fun.

My goal for this blog is simple; I just want to write, and I want to be good at it.

Oh, and on a side note; the night before my cre-com interview I was reading "The last Lecture" By Randy Pausch. Since I don't have a lot of time to read anything other than my academic books/text books, it was strange that I would decide (right in the middle of exam time) to read this book before bed...

But alas, it was exactly what I needed before facing the panel of academics who will ultimately decide my fate...

Chapter 11, pages 51 & 52...

Pausch is talking about being rejected as an Imagineer at Disneyland, even after obtaining a PhD from Carnegie Mellon, and his determination in realizing his childhood dream;

"The brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."

Brilliant words from a brave man.

Last year, before being accepted into CreComm, I started a blog. I wanted to better my skills, so that I would be more prepared to write "journalistically."

I only got a couple of posts in, when I switched blogs (to the one I have now) because I wasn't feeling it...I missed my old, "unique" style of writing, and started to wonder if "Journalistic writing" had just one style.

Flash forward to now, my second year of CreComm, and I am still more confused than ever. I'm not a great hard news writer, but I have come to think that there is more to "journalistic writing" than hard news.

Thoughts?