It's been a while. I always had a passion for writing – reporting, in particular. When I was in college, I spent countless hours working on our weekly newspaper. It wasn’t the best paper in the world. It didn’t win any awards. But I loved it.
I loved getting the scoop. I loved interviewing people, researching topics, and extracting the pertinent information needed to write a well-developed story that would inform and entertain its readers. I loved editing other reporters’ articles and laying them out using Quark on a Mac computer. I loved the late nights, early mornings, and just the hustle and bustle of it all.
I dabbled with the idea of changing my studies from accounting to journalism and even got a summer job at a local paper. I was hit with the media bug and relishing every second of it. I attended several conferences targeted towards university journalists and began seriously playing with the idea of becoming a professional journalist.
Then the dark rumours began to spread. Rumors of how journalism was dying a slow and painful death due to the internet. Newspapers are on the way out, they said. Reporters are being laid off daily, they said. Journalism will no longer be a viable profession, they said. And I backed off.
I have been groomed as a business student and my trained brain was telling me the risks were too high. I have a family to feed and bills to pay. Did I really want to be a starving journalist with no job and no future prospects? So I decided to stick with accounting and am presently in university, studying steadfastly towards obtaining that degree.
I had put the idea of writing behind me, except for dry executive summaries and other business reports needed for school projects. I read the occasional newspaper and frequently watched the news – just to keep up to speed, but I stopped reporting myself all together.
Recently though, my fingers have begun to twitch. The old urge to grab people’s attention and tell them what is going on in their community is back and begging to be put to work. I keep telling myself it is not feasible; that I need to concentrate on my studies; that accounting is a much safer and profitable career, but the passion is burning bright again.
I've found myself reading more and more articles and clicking that little share button to let all my facebook friends know what is happening. I bore my children and their friends with what I’ve read in the paper or heard on the news. (This usually follows with a little lecture on the growing apathy of today’s youth.) And it has suddenly dawned on me that I still love reporting. I've realized that journalism is not dying - it's changing form.
So I have decided on a compromise. I will start a blog and write whenever time allows me to do so. I’m not sure on what. I’m not sure for whom. I've just decided to start one. Maybe I will write actual news reports, features, or editorials on interesting topics I’ve come across. Perhaps there will only be a series of journal entries. I haven’t decided. Will I get tons of followers for this blog? I don’t know. The whole point of it is to get my fingers typing again and get my voice out into the world for those who are interested in hearing it.
So until next time everyone, this is what I’ve got to say.
Trina
