Advice to myself

I just wrote a letter to a former colleague. She wants to be a journalist. I was giving her advice.

Then all of a sudden, I realized I should be heeding this advice myself. Here's parts of what I wrote her:

...

Have you heard of Nellie Bly? She was a pioneer in the field of journalism. If you haven't heard about her, read her biography. It's actually a children's book about her--a nice quick, fun read. It's called "The Daring Nellie Bly."

I never got to practice the kind of enterprise and investigative journalism Nellie Bly did. I was always writing "fluff." It soured me to both myself and the world. But you can write about whatever you want, M. This is an age when anyone and everyone can be a journalist. All you have to do is read and write about the news! Every day! Read the writers you respect the most. Find journalists you look up to.

Did you watch the Gilmore Girls? Remember Rory had a particular hero whom she aspired to.

You don't have to pick only one person, though. Every day, read one of any number of news articles written by any one of your heroes. Don't rush. Just do it a little bit every day. Eventually, if you read enough of their work, you will write like them.

Start a blog, too. Post the links to your favorite articles on your blog. Then blog about your thoughts on that article in that post. And then go to the comments section of that blog, and paste a link to your blog post there.

If you want to be a true journalist, though, and not an essayist--take out as much emotion and bias from your writing as humanly possible. Journalists these days are forgetting to do that. Then again, maybe that's an impossible task. Maybe just become an essayist instead. It doesn't matter. Do what you love! Do it well enough for long enough until people pay you for it.

Before you know it, you'll have enough blog posts to publish your own book.

Also, make what you say matter! It's not ok to talk just to talk.

Anyways, if you read Bruce's book, you'll understand all of this.

Sorry to babble.

Take care, M! Wish you the best in your endeavors as a journalist.