career talk

i am wondering where i am going in my career...am i on a management track or am i just in this for the moment...
i am a copy editor, if i try and go up the latter climbing to slot then news editor to assistant managing editor to managing editor to publisher with various stops in between...well it sounds good in theory, right?

is that what i wanna do...will newspapers still be valuable resources with sales on a decline as a whole within the industry? people get their news from so many different outlets now...people want to get the info fast and want it to be straight to the point...
papers used to to have to reputation of giving the details and indepth converage you cant get anywhere else but this isnt so much the case anymore...you can put the whole story on the web and folks will get it much faster..newspaper is becoming the second day story outlet..not a breaking news outlet...my paper is in this big push to "write for online, update for the paper" which is a toally different thinking...but newspapers now have to compete with online, pod casts, blogs, tv, radio...

which brings me to new media...using all our resources...incorporating more online, blog, not just photos but audio and video, my newspaper is already doing blogs...and i am excited about new media, it is def my generation of things...but with all the sites out there that are not factual but more opinion...well, will they diminish what news is trying to do...will people trust this new way for newspapers to move to? will people be able to differentiate us from the not so quality journalism outlets? so many trust having the newspaper in their hands in order to really believe it but the groups is also dying off...but new media makes much more sense to go...i dunno...it can be a blessing or a curse..we shall soon find out...

as you can see i can talk about newspaper for a good minute...but thats part of learning my craft...this is where i am at in my life and in order to get ahead i gotta keep up with whats going on in the industry...im am blessed to be at a newspaper that is making money, and is at the head of the class in inovation...other papers want to recruit from my paper....being a black woman, being a black woman copy editor in this industry i can go far, there are not many of us, and papers are looking for us...and i have to take advantage of that...i also have to be up on everything..i have to know whats going on and know what im talking about because i am a black woman trying to get ahead...

we had a staff meeting this week talking about the push to do this...so it is runnin around in my head...i told my managing editor i wanted to be a part of this new media turn the paper is taking...he said send me some ideas...so i did..i gave him a couple things i think the paper can do...i hope he can get something from them...

i have this feeling that i need to emerse myself in journalism like i did last summer when i was in reno...in reno i was thrown into copy editing almost 24 hours a day...i was in class 8 hours a day then going back to my dorm room and having to study for 2 to 3 more hours...it was all journalism, all editing all the time..i woke up in the morning 2 hours before class to read the paper and take notes...but its was great...i was learning, i was loving it because it was one of my passions...i came back from my 6 weeks in reno energized...and i used my skills at my job, though not as much as i would have liked...and then 7 months later i get a job as a copy editor and move to cali..and its great...but i think i need to go back get out my book and papers and get back into my zone...i cant be the best unless i push myself to be the best..i cant slack off..i need to focus...i love my coworkers, i love hanging out but i love my job more...

i have been feeling insecure about my abilities to do some things...but i gotta keep going..i wanna work on my headline writing and focus on looking at the big picture within the stories...i can design my ass off, i can find the meat of a story and cut away the xtra to fit the space...but i need to look more, i need to pay attention to the little things that make the big things..and i know this..i ask others that have been at this longer than me about what should i work on..and then i do..but i feel like i gotta go back, retrace my steps and then bring all the knowledge i have in the back of my mind to the front....

and so you know what started this whole rant and rave? a friend of mine told me he thinks its sexy when he hears women handle their business...and i pictured me, glasses at the bridge of my nose, sitting on the floor, papers spread around me, some music and a glass of wine, studying...and i felt sexy...smart is so damn sexy right?


so, while i am clearly devoted to newspaper at this moment..where will i be in a few years? i dont wanna back myself in a corner, i still have dreams of being a book editor, but havent really pursued it....only time will tell i guess...but i sooo believe in keeping my options open...