It’s not my finest piece of writing, but it’s in print, so there’s no going back now. Here’s my first article for the Willamette Week. And holy crap, did this thing get edited! I’ve never experienced such a dissection of my work by so many other people, but I suppose that if this is the field I want to be working in, I better get used to it.
For better or worse
January 27th, 2006 · 16 Comments
Tags: Writing
16 responses so far ↓
1 pumpernickel_rye // Jan 26, 2006 at 7:42 pm
It’s sort of gut-wrenching, I know, to have your writing reworked by a perfect stranger. When I wrote book reviews for the Chicago Sun-Times, the editor would do very little editing, but even that little bit made me a little sick (even when it was better). The most horrifying was a review I wrote when he was on vacation and his assistant totally butchered the thing. I picked up a copy of the Sunday paper, opened it at the drugstore counter, turned to the book revies and started moaning without even knowing it. I looked up to the clerk staring back with real concerned. It was a nightmare. But the Willamette piece sounded great. So a pretty good collaboration. From where I sit.
2 jaki_o // Jan 27, 2006 at 2:56 am
Congratulations to you and your editors! It must be exciting to see your name in print and everything.
3 stacij82 // Jan 27, 2006 at 3:03 am
Wooohoo, go Laura! I’m so proud!You should come down here for St. Patrick’s Day- DLove, Ellie and Natalie are……come on….we neeeeeed you. Plllllleeeeeeaaaasssseeeee?
4 geekgoddiss // Jan 27, 2006 at 3:21 am
Just remember, it doesn’t say anything about you. You’ll get a feel for the style they are looking for, they’ll get a feel for you. And when you get published in your next paper, they will edit the same article an entirely different way based on their audience, the style of the paper, editor preferences, etc. I’m sure you know all that, I just dont’ want you feeling discouraged at all. It happens, and it’s no reflection on you. Your job as a writer is to write. An editor’s job is to edit. If you write perfect all the time, editors lose their jobs :-p Maybe I overlooked the credits…who took the picture?Thanks for sharing the article with us! Glad to see you published!
5 chicagoartgirl23 // Jan 27, 2006 at 4:38 am
Holy KICK ASS ARTICLE, Batman! You really know how to pick a story, that’s for sure. And it was so well written–the paper you are working for must be a stand-out. Seriously–great job. You were born to do this and if this isn’t your best-holy crap, what is? Fantastic. Really. Congratualtions. Go celebrate. I love the Urban Scout!!!! I get all apocolyptic sometimes too, but I am far to lazy to keep it up for long–and I’d rather die than eat a squirrel. Well, except the squirrels that sit on my neighbors fence throw nuts at my head as I try to unlock my door. When the nuclear winter comes (WHEN, not if), those little buggers are mine.
6 TexasAlan // Jan 28, 2006 at 2:50 am
Congrats on your article, you published writer, you!
7 Rod_Lamour // Jan 28, 2006 at 3:27 am
Great work Cupcake…you make an uncle pround ….please send along a hard copy so I can keep it.
8 Jay_galk25 // Jan 28, 2006 at 7:11 am
Oh, published, loving it. Now if only I could force myself to work on my novel.
Jay {you open your mouth and I’m grounded once more} “Rawr”
9 TimsHead // Jan 28, 2006 at 10:34 am
I suspect this guy would probably annoy me in real life, what with referring to Urban Scout in the third person and generally sounding like many of the wackos who called our paper to claim that the Clintons or Bushes or nuclear plants or city government or black helicopters or talking dogs were behind some nefarious plot. But more power to you for putting together an interview that communicated his perspectives without being either disdainfully skeptical or boot-lickingly promotional. Looking forward to more of your work!Oh, and what’s up with his sisters commenting on the story? Yeesh. Or the guy who says he’s a role model for dropping out of school? There’s just no accounting for taste.
10 MaximaBella // Jan 28, 2006 at 8:08 pm
OMG OMG OMG!!! Thats great, congrats!!!!!!!
11 fern_forest // Jan 29, 2006 at 2:17 pm
congrats! that is great and you should be wicked proud! editing, ah yes. my boss ripped apart my first report. and the second one is about to go on the chopping block…we’ll see how much of this one survives
12 Gabe_Real // Jan 29, 2006 at 7:16 pm
Congratulations! Look forward to reading (and seeing) more MDIC in print.Aside: The comments are another thing…
13 rainingheart // Jan 30, 2006 at 6:41 am
This guy needs to read Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach. He would love living in Ecotopia!!!!! (me too, though…lol)
14 perfectsymmetry // Jan 30, 2006 at 5:42 pm
Hey, congratulations!!
How’s Chelsea doing by the way?
15 geekgoddiss // Feb 1, 2006 at 5:07 pm
Let’s both admit that Parisi isn’t a name you hear every day. That being agreed upon, are you related to Mark Parisi?
16 bethsdad // Feb 7, 2006 at 12:58 pm
Laura, this is Beth’s dad. Beth’s brother Russell was in the same Scout troop as Peter. What a small town Portland is. Ralph