Week 9

October 17-October 23, 2010

Monday 3:30-5:30
Tuesday 12:00-7:00
Wendnesday 3:30-5:30
Thursday 11:30-6:00, 8:00-3:00 a.m.
Friday 11:30-3:00 a.m.

Total Hours: 28

Yes, you read that correctly-3 a.m.

I finished writing the events guide this week. My deadline was Thursday, but I only sent a draft to my editor on Thursday night. The finished product didn't get there until 3:00 on Monday morning. What a weekend!

I do feel it was pretty decent, and I am proud of my work.

I'm a little concerned with the time it took me. I think I'm a little slow at researching and writing. I have gotten faster in the last 2 years. In the summer of 2008 I worked for The Oklahoma Daily. I had never written for a publication before, and I was freaked. My first story took 10 hours to write. Is that not crazy? The same type of story would take me about 3 hours to finish now, so that's an improvement. :)

I was given two weeks to complete the Events Guide. My editor requested 140-150 events. I think that would have been enough time, plus some change, if I worked fulltime. But, since I only work 15-20 hours a week, it was a struggle to complete the events guide by deadline. And in the end, I didn't.

The editor was very understanding. She said it was only the second time she's assigned the Events Guide, so her timing of how long it should take to complete might have been a little off. I was relieved that she was so cool about it. In J school, we learn that deadlines are non-negotiable. That might not be the case in the real world.

Needless to say, I'm glad it's done. And as a bonus, I got an assignment to write another story. I love it when a plan starts coming together!