On Writing a First Draft of a News Story

Dear Reynolds Institute:

It's a quarter to eight p.m. I have consumed several pints of coffee today, half of which were drunk while staring blankly at my computer. I have transcribed notes. I have written, deleted, rewritten, deleted, then grumbled sourly when I realized I liked what I wrote the first time (which is now deleted). I have not just talked to myself, but yelled outright. I have Googled, Facebooked, Twittered (Tweeted? Twitted? whatever) and browsed for additional information.

This show's producers get paid what?

I have taken several "breaks" from writing in order to do my laundry in the bathroom sink; watch a TV show whose focus seems to be, if I'm not mistaken, people who can't throw stuff away and have other people come into their house to throw stuff away and then live happily ever after; and, for the first time in my life, cleaned my hotel room. 

In short, I'm behaving like my students do when I make them write. And therein lies the real lesson.

Writing, especially writing based on your own interviews and research, is incredibly difficult when you really want to do it well. Whatever their own skill level, my students have always known this all too well. I always like to tell them on the first day, "If you find yourself hating your story so much you want to rip it to shreds, congratulations. That's called character." I'm glad to see I've got a smidge of it myself.

I took some notes during the draft process that I plan to show them when I get back. It's all well and good for someone to lecture about the importance of revision, composition, deletion, reflection (rinse, spin, repeat as necessary), but if there's some kind of product to serve as a visual aid, that'd be a lot more persuasive. Here's a snipped of the notes I took:

4:35 p.m. Maybe move second paragraph down? Way it is now, it looks like a second lead.
4:42 p.m. Check w Doig next week for better quote re par 6
4:48 p.m. I hate you, third quote transition. I hate you with a passion. If hatred were stars, I'd be an elliptical galaxy.
5:02 p.m. chk stats re RaR survey 2005 conv w/ expl. soc media ==> convergence? or maybe just a guess? 

Honestly, I have no idea what that 5:02 p.m. note means. And I think that's probably a lesson too.

When I turn this story in, I'll get an earful of commentary. I'll listen as a teacher. I'll strive to take what nuggets I can from those with the experience and know-how in the reporting business, and at some point, figure out a way to synthesize the overall experience into my own lessons, so as to bring my classroom more towards the dynamic it needs to be. And maybe I'll figure out how to read my own notes along the way.

Gregg Long
Lake Park High School
Roselle, IL