Day 15: Finish Stars & Stripes

When I got in, I didn’t have any other stories to write, but I knew it would be a long day getting this Stars & Stripes story done. I spent awhile transcribing Ryan’s interview. Then I spent awhile staring at a blank page and rewriting the lead over and over and over before I felt I had a decent one. I didn’t love it, but if I didn’t get past that dang lead, this story was never going to get done.

I peeled through the interviews and managed to get a decent story together. I remembered that Derek had said magazine writing was slightly less formal or newsy, so I tried to be not as rigid with it and make it fun.

At the end of a very long day, maybe 5:30p-ish? I emailed what I had to Derek. I asked Derek if he could look it over and tell me if I needed to re-write it. I explained that this was my first dabble in magazine writing, but I was determined to get it down. He said he would look it over and then next week when I came in, if I needed to change it I could. The article was for the Sizzle, and the Sizzle’s deadline wasn’t until late August, so there wasn’t a rush on it.

I thanked Derek and then headed home for the day. My brain was completely fried from working on that story non-stop all day.