I feel like I accomplished a lot this week, and I’m really pleased with how my piece turned out. We faced some challenges along the way: I had to interview my subject over Zoom instead of in-person, as we had originally planned.
Despite that setback and the difficulties it created, I was able to follow the set schedule. My mentor created a daily to-do list for us over the week and at the end of every night I was rewarded by a gratifying number of checks.
I have learned a lot about audio, and it’s a discipline I’m really just getting into, so I’m so grateful for that. When I was first told that I’d be sent off to put together that initial cut myself, I was worried I had been set up for failure. After a very informative overview of Audition and a pep talk from my mentor, I felt slightly less fatalistic. It wasn’t until I saw the completed package that I realized I had been able to do so much of that on my own and it was actually kind of fun.
I’ve written a good number of articles in the past few years, so I felt prepared for this one. My editor did have to shake me out of my hard-news comfort zone of simple sentences, but once she did the whole process flew by.
I don’t have any regrets from this week, other than wishing I hadn’t caught an unfortunate case of COVID the week before, and maybe that I wasted so much energy worrying about my own ability to do work that is practically second nature to me.
Every time I start a new project a little voice in the back of my head tells me this challenge is too great, and I was reminded once again this week that that voice has never once been right. On Monday I think I might start giving myself to-do lists and scheduling work hours.
I was blown away by how much I achieved this week, and if these methods work so well here then maybe they’ll work for me in my everyday life too.
When I applied for Next Generation Radio I didn’t realize I would become a part of this amazing community; I thought it was a week of my life that I’d look back on fondly someday, nothing more. I’m excited to see how the connections I’ve made this week will influence the rest of my career.
