Advanced reporting: Summer 2014

This summer, I want to:

• strengthen my voice
• improve my ability to organize a narrative
• tell more compelling stories through sensory detail (aka: conduct stronger reporting)

I'd like to focus on:

• health-related stories
• Current topics: psychological consequences of sexual abuse
• Diversity in the student body at MU's medical school 
• One mother's ability to overcome grief
• Profiling a doctor who often diagnoses people with terminal cancer
• ...

I want to continue writing day-turn articles. I've worked as a reporter for one semester, and I know that I still have a lot to learn. Last semester, I learned about how to construct articles, interview and report. But, these skills are not instincts, yet. The motions are not fluid and my own writing voice feels awkward and constrained. I want to be able to sit down with a topic, identify the players, do the reporting, research and then put together a well-organized narrative.

My weaknesses (as I'm aware of them) include:

• story organization
• transitions
• integrating sensory detail
• moving into "uncomfortable" interview territory quickly
• nerves
• multi-tasking through a couple big stories at once

#journalism