Why I Hate My Job

What a title for a blog entry, right?
So, it's been an extremely hectic last couple of months and I haven't had much of an opportunity (or motivation) to update the blog. I'm also doing some revisions on one of my novels, so that's been taking up a lot of my time as well.

June starts this weekend, which means it's officially my last month of working full time for the newspaper. As of July, I will be a full time seminary student. Talk about a career change, eh?

But while reflecting on my time as a pro journalist, I've been focusing on how much I really don't want to be a journalist and the answer I came up with this morning is that: it's a dependant job.

Everything I do as a journalist is dependent on someone else. My stories don't get done without outside influence. That's where interviews come into play. Nothing happens without input from someone else. I hate the idea of my entire job -- not just aspects, but the entire job -- being dependent on someone else.

My stories don't get done without interviews. They don't get printed without approval from my editor. They don't get printed without corrections and approval from the copy desk. Everything about being a journalist is about being dependent on others. Even the art of generating story ideas depends on who you can talk to about getting information.

True, a lot of the coming up with story ideas has to do with my own brain storming. But again, those stories don't get done without the help of outside influence.

I tend to think all writing is like that, some forms more than others. Journalism seems to lend itself to more outside influence, and that goes for magazine and newspaper journalism.

Fiction writing, I think, has some differences in that department. I'm more dependent on my own imagination, but I'm still dependent on my outside world and frame of reference for ideas. I create characters that are loosely based on real people, either in appearance or in personality. Rarely are they based on both.

Journalism isn't all bad, though. I enjoy writing feature stories and telling people's stories.

But geeze, if I never have to write another budget story, it'll be too soon.

I'll update again soon. No promises, but I'll try my best :)

And for the record, I don't actually hate my job. I've just been learning by trial and error that newspaper writing isn't necessarily the gig for me.