Journo Obsessed

You know you want to be a journalist when the opening credits to "The Newsroom" give you chills. It is a show about a broadcast news network and the ins and outs of the office but every time I hear that powerful opening and see the montage of past broadcast journalists, I get chills. I don't even want to do broadcast, I want to do print. Basically, I just want to write. 

You know you want to be a journalist when you love watching the news unfold via Live Tweets, and you still question the authenticity of each 140 word informational bite. When you take a huge news event and read about it on a variety of platforms to determine the differences between the event coverage. 

You know you want to be a journalist when a job at the Newsuem sounds like you're dream job. When you find endless ways to formulate stories in your head. When you ask really detailed questions in bizarre settings because you just have to know the answer. When you can almost feel the neurons in your brain zapping the new information back and forth as you make connections. 

You know you want to be a journalist when it becomes part of your identity. When you ask a lot of questions, you shrug "sorry, I'm a journalist." When you pick up on innocuous details you smile and say, "I'm a journalist." When someone asks you what you do/who you are you don't want to respond "social worker" because that is your 50 hour a week job that pays and has health insurance. You want to say journalist because...that is what you believe you are. 

You know you want to be a journalist when you are the person your colleagues call upon for writing assistance be it an email, a story, a news piece, a greeting card...what have you. You're the go to expert on technology AND writing. You marry both perfectly and those around you know it. 

You know you want to be a journalist when editing becomes an involuntary action for you, like breathing. You can spot a typo a mile away without even looking closely. You breathe, you blink your eyes and you edit every piece of text you come across. 

I know I want to be a journalist because I can't stop thinking about it every day. I seriously believe I could be happy telling other people's stories for the rest of my life. 

Until next time...