Features!

      In the length of my feature writing class at college, I have learned three valuable things about writing features. The first, keep it short. Brevity is the key to an interesting read and to hold the reader's attention. The second, write something you're passionate about or there is no point at all. For one of my assignments is started out on a topic that wasn't close to my interests; I can safely say it was one of the worst pieces of writing I have produced. Fortunately I changed my topic on time and came up with a much worthier feature instead. The third thing I lerned was by taking and writing interviews; always find a "hook". Focusing on a certain aspect about a person or event will make the article not only more interesting but also more relevant and not all over the place. I've realized this applies to every kind of feature I attempted writing.
    Following these three lessons in particular has made me more organized and brief in my writing. I know for a fact that the "rules" for feature writing have enabled me to write better in terms of clarity and reader's interest.
    My personal favorite was covering an event. It was interesting because I went out there, scrounged for the perfct event to attend and then writing about it made me feel like i was reliving the experience.  It made for a fun feature story overall.
    On the other hand, i did not enjoy the interview story. I'm more of the observer and analyzer than someone and less outspoken. It was stressful to schedule and take an interview and then writing about it, because you have to make sure you keep the person's ideas intact and also make sure that you're not misrepresenting them in any way.
    I will be transferring out of De Anza to UC Davis this fall, and I hope to keep this blog alive and kicking. Hopfeully I will soon find some topics of my interest and passion that will help me transform this blog into something less nerdy and more fun!

On that note, here's my present motto about life and writing:

Blog response to handout for 6.6

I honestly had no idea about the category of 'enterprise reporting'. Reading about it was very interesting in terms of the options it opens up for feature writers.
   The handout in itself was very helpful as it explains exactly what such stories are made up of and especially the examples of the grocery store and fuel prices helped me figure out what kind of enterprise story i might want to consider.
    However, when I think about it, enterprise stories are probably not my cup of tea. By nature I'm more analytical than inquisitive. I would much rather do a follow-up feature on a news story than an investigative feature on the same. 

Getting the Grammar Right

A writer continues to grow and change in their style of writing, but getting the grammar right is the basis of good writing. Of all the links I went through, most of them provided tips on improving style. However, this one http://jprof.com/editing/gspdguide.html helps out with the very basic grammar rules that we tend to forget once out of high school. For example, it explains the difference between who and whom, two pronouns that are often incorrectly interchanged. So there are several such minute grammatical details that we tend to ignore otherwise, but are pertinent to a good piece of writing.
   It also describes how a common error of a comma splice can completely ruin the meaning of a sentence, and how to overcome this problem. This is one tip in particular that I found extremely useful, as I find a lot of run-on sentences in my writing. It's hard for me to wrap-up a thought and end a sentence. 

When Other Blogs Inspire You To Write Better

    Of all the blogs from this list http://robertleebrewer.blogspot.com/2012/02/best-blogs-for-writers-to-read-in-2012.html of "The Best Blogs of 2012", the one by travel writer, Alexis Grant, immediately had me captivated. Firstly, her blog is very user friendly with a special link for newbies called, 'First time here?', a lot like a website.
     I particularly enjoyed how she covers a variety of topics yet sticking to her basic idea of helpful topics relating to travel and journalism. I mostly focused on three of her blog posts, two of which I liked a lot and another that kinda put me off.
    Grant's "9 Tips for Women Travelling Solo" is a must-read for those women who love to travel alone. The tips are simple, useful and even unexpected (for example, wearing a fake wedding band, to keep away those men who may creep you out by directly proposing courtship). What I liked about her style of writing is that its helpful without being preachy. More importantly, she cares to explain each tip with useful details and narratives from her experiences, to make it more effective and interesting.
   Her blog "How to Use Social Media to Look for a Job" is a little disappointing when compared to the one I mentioned above. This could be due to a number of reasons but what put me off the most was the fact that the tips were almost stale, it was nothing that could make me go, "Oh yeah I hadn't thought of that!" It was also missing interesting examples or anecdotes, that would hold the reader's attention.
    Of all the things I liked about her style of writing, the one I'm taking back for sure is her ability to stick to her ideas and not have them all over the place. She writes for a specific audience and doesn't try the jack of all trades master of none- style. I think that is a very important quality for a writer to possess. 

Yes! That's How I Wanna Write!

       When Cynthia Hill decided to have a baby via in vitro fertilization three years ago, the then 41-year-old principal of a Los Angeles-based boutique marketing firm knew exactly who to invite over for a bottle of wine and an evening spent flipping through binders of sperm-donor profiles. She knew who would administer progesterone shots in her backside and who would tag along to childbirth prep classes at the hospital. It was the same person who would be in the delivery room with her, squeezing her hand tightly as she gave birth to her son, Ronan. For all intents and purposes, Hill was having a baby with Cathy Finley, her best friend of more than a decade. To be clear, they weren't having a baby together, but Finley's presence in Hill's life was so important, so intimate, that at times it certainly seemed that way. "At our birthing class, people were like, 'Oh, the lesbian couple!'" says Hill. "I'd say, 'No, I'm having a baby solo. This is my best friend.'"
    Six sentences and so much expressed. That's how i want to able to write my features too. I love this lead written by Whitney Joiner in an article for Marie Claire. In this article, Joiner explores a very bold, interesting and most importantly, fresh topic. She is articulate and emotive. The article throws in statistics and facts at just the right places, making it a legitimate read. More than anything else, what I liked best was her choice of topic. I would definitely like to explore more on the same and write about this new style of companionship and maybe even delve into a comparison on how this differs in the way of men bonding with each other?

Here where you can read the complete article at : http://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity-lifestyle/articles/girlfriends-new-husbands

The 12-step Program to Good Writing: What's easy and What's Not.

     I'd like to begin by mentioning that the steps were very enlightening and useful. They somehow made the daunting task of writing, seem easy.

  Out of the twelve steps to good writing, I thought "listen" comes easiest to me. I simply enjoy listening to what people have to say. I'm usually in no hurry to speak and wait for them to completely be done with what they might want to add even as a murmur or an afterthought.

  "The good writer must listen for the nuance, the emotion, the detail, the odd fact." Although this sounds like a lot to do, I know it cannot be very hard, to just be curious and catch all the details.

    The real task for me would be to follow the advice of "trust". I find it hard to collaborate and trust my co-workers. I've somehow always believed that the best pieces of writing come around through individual work. However, I do undertand that news organizations typically work with editors going through every story and require a great deal of team work to be put in.
 
    The one way I thought i could overcome this weakness would be by working on a feature story together with some of my classmates. That should surely teach me how to trust the work of a fellow writer and understand the need for this step in good writing. 

Its all about your lifestyle!

I am by nature, a person that loves to talk about about life and all that it encompasses, as an abstract concept. So anything that could hold different meanings for different people is what I would love to write about. Choosing a category, therefore, came very easily to me: Lifestyle.

Some of the article trends in the 'lifestyle' category:

• Marriage as a change of lifestyle
• Relationships and live-ins
• Meditation as a part of your lifestlye
• Self help articles
• DINK couples
• Travel and vacations

Two lifestyle feature story ideas that i may want to pursue:

1. Why are so many couples opting for the DINK (Double income, no kids) lifestyle? The advantages and disadvantages of taking this path.

          Pros:

• Fairly new concept and on the rise.
• I am very interested in finding out more about it and writing about it.
• It correlates directly with the category; its a lifestyle choice.

          Cons:

• Although new, it has been written about quite a lot.
• Lack of availability of information
• It would be hard to be unbiased and not pick a side.

     2.  Spirituality today: What is the trend? How do people connect with themselves and                       

          their higher power (if they believe in one) ?

         

         Pros:

• Favorite topic, which means I'll write this one with more passion.
• Lots of information available as well as many different possibilites and directions to take this in.
• Every body usually has something to say about this (if this is to be an interview)

        Cons:

• Converting the pool of information available into an interesting feature story that people would want to read
• Particularly important to not bring in my own point of view in this because there will already be a lot of different points of view in the story.

"I CONFESS..."! Facebook College Confession Pages on the Rise