Just An Update

Here's the final (online) version of my Yellowcard review. It was published in the last issue of The Flyer and looked really nice. The online version is missing a bit of the formatting, but I don't really care. I'm not sure who bothers to read the online site anyway.

Thanks to those of you who read my iPod article. It was my first assignment for my Feature Writing class and will be published in this Friday's Flyer issue. The final version has a few tweaks (I expanded the early section about the iPod models; mentioned the new 1GB Nano and the Shuffle models), so I'll post the online link when that's made available. George told me that my article helped him figure out how to convert videos for his iPod, so I feel like I accomplished something. And with publication in the Flyer, perhaps more people will find it helpful.

I started working on an Xbox 360 buyer's guide article last night. I intended on covering the system, accessories, games, and home theatre recommendations, but I already had 1000 words by the time I was done just talking about the system and accessories. Thus, I asked my editor if I could make it a two-part article and she agreed, however the first part won't run until the March 17th issue (with the second in the March 31st issue).

It was partially an issue of giving the reader too much, but also the fact that I would feel somewhat unrewarded if I submitted 2000 or more words and had it only count as one article. For my practicum, I'm expected to have six articles published throughout the semester to get an A, not including any submitted for class. An article could be 500 or 2500 words... there's no difference in what it's worth. I just want to be decently compensated for my work. Since I'm obviously not being paid for it, I want to make sure I'm rewarded for my knowledge and effort with my desired grade.

Tomorrow, I must interview a Lewis professor in the Computer Science department who (I believe) leads a group of students that work on developing games. It's for a "personality profile" due for Feature Writing on Thursday. Like any article for that class, it could potentially be published. I've always hated doing interviews in the past, but I've not had to do one in nearly three years. I'm certainly more confident in my skill than I was back then, and hopefully I'll be able to get some good material out of it. The fact that I'm very comfortable with tech discussion should help me out.

So that's the synopsis of my recent past and future writing projects. Other than what I've mentioned, I'll have three more articles to write for my practicum and three more for Feature Writing this semester. Dave wants me to do a how-to guide on buying an HDTV for my next feature article, so that should be fine. This is the type of writing I'm interested in: something that I already know a fair bit about that I can strengthen with outside resources to create a worthwhile reading experience.

That said, I've been strongly weighing my post-graduation options. If you've been reading this regularly since it's inception, you've perhaps seen the post I made about devoting myself to music journalism. While music is a huge love of mine and I'd eventually like to write about it full-time, I sincerely doubt I have the skill and overall depth of knowledge to make it as a music journalist right out of college. I think I'd have a much better shot writing about games for a publication or website. Once I'm employed and have established myself as a writer, I can consider branching out to other subjects. Therefore, I'll be writing a bit more about games than I have been recently, as I need the regular experience before I graduate.

Thanks for keeping up with me, and thanks for the discussions and encouragement. My next post will likely contain my aforementioned article about the professor I'm interviewing tomorrow.