Journalism – and how it helps me be a better copywriter
Oh, look! I’m back with another blog post. And this time, it’s about my background in journalism - obnoxious, I know, but hear me out because I have a theory that it’s helped me more than I realise, and as such, you reading this.
For those of you who haven’t heard me brag about it, I worked for two years at the Times Educational Supplement; a weekly educational magazine that distributes around the UK. While I was there, I took on the position of social media executive, but I also wrote a fair amount of features and news articles.
How does this help?
Feedback: Where did my ego go?
Well, for one it means I can take edits like a trooper - seriously, in journalism you get to a point where you almost expect there to be edits. After a while, you learn that it’s nothing personal and has nothing to do with your skill level, instead, you just take it as a way to improve; the amount of tips and tricks I’ve found out about from working in a newsroom is outstanding.
“I needed it yesterday!”
Oh, the joyous deadline. Wherever would we be without it? Being in a newsroom meant for a lot of panicked voices, sometimes if a big education story broke then it’d be all hands on deck, honestly, I knew writers who were churning out six, seven stories a day. When a deadline is treated with so much urgency, it rubs off on you. Now, my deadlines aren’t deadlines, the week before is the deadline - and any time after that is extra time to make it perfect.
The trials and tribulations of editing
Fun fact: editing isn’t just giving a piece of work a once over - oh, boy, no! When I was editing feature pieces, I was taught to edit once for spelling and grammar, another time for awkward sentences, another time for rambling, and another time just for fun (clarification: it wasn’t fun). It may be a pain, but it’s a pain that pays off - like braces or eating the top layer of a trifle to get to the jelly.
Solid systems
At the end of the day, I’m all for trying new ways and techniques. But I worked with a national magazine, the foundations they instilled into me are fairly solid and sturdy - after all, there’s a reason they’ve been in publication for over one hundred years.
It may not seem like a big deal, but their standard of writing is next to none - and I suppose, by association, so is mine. You can’t buy that anywhere - so buy from me.
You can email me at ella@ejwrites.co.uk - or give me a call on 07792341698
Speak to you soon,