Why Every Writer Should Consider Journalism

Most writers have very specific ideas about what kind of writers they want to be. This is, of course, because writing isn't simply something we do in our spare time. It is very tightly connected to our identities. We consider ourselves as belonging to an elite group of wacky individuals who, in spite of great odds and much confusion, carved out a place for themselves in this world. We reason that, if Herman Melville, Dorothy Parker, Stephen King and Douglas Adams managed to find voices that were interesting enough to find ears, then there is a chance we may achieve the same thing.

Perhaps you see yourself writing gothic novels in an attic office by moonlight, or huddling over your notepad in a coffee shop a la JK Rowling. If this sounds familiar, chances are, the last thing you'd ever consider is spending your afternoons at government meetings and your evenings sweating over a newsroom computer while a tense editor repeatedly asks why you can't have that article into him yesterday. As unappealing as that may sound, it could be the very thing that turns you into the sort of writer you've always wanted to be.

No matter what your writing goals, working in a newsroom will give you the skills to succeed. That's because there is a lot more to writing than the romantic literary interludes we all like to imagine. Writing, as you well know if you do it often enough, can be hard, frustrating work. There are deadlines, doldrums and don't-wanna-do-its. Working for a newspaper will teach you to work under deadline pressure, which is something that sounds a whole lot worse than it is. It will help you get over the idea that conditions must be perfect for you to create. Have a problem with writer's block? Working in a newsroom will take care of that permanently.

It will also teach you how to relax when someone is evaluating your work. It will teach you to take editorial criticism and to make the necessary cuts in your articles to make them fit - according to size or content - into a particular publication. These are transferable skills, and magazine editors will know this. Whatever your dream writing job, newspaper journalism will get your brain into shape to pursue it.

Besides, there are many different opportunities when it comes to journalism. You can report on government meetings, goings-on in the business world, arts and entertainment, personal interest stories and just about anything else you can think about. (I once got the opportunity to write about a local hot-air ballooning crew, an assignment that involved a free balloon ride.) You are limited only by your abilities and the openings you can find.

You don't have to make a career of journalism if you find that it isn't your thing. One to two years is probably the optimum time for someone who wishes to explore other things.