Things are starting to look up. I received a call this morning from a news director. He asked if I was still looking for a job and told me about the positions he has open at his station. I was surprised and happy he asked for a couple of writing samples, which I wrote and sent right after the call. But I haven't heard anything yet, so I'm hoping he just didn't open his email again after the call.

Also, an anchor/reporter at another station I sent a tape to emailed me today and told me she would give me some information about the opening there, but I haven't heard anything after I replied. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Well, it's been forever and a day since my last post. Mainly because of Hurricane Katrina and getting my tapes out. I'm frustrated b/c most of the places I've sent my tape to are places where evacuees are, and therefore they're doing a ton of stories about it. I went on my first interview for a reporter job yesterday (although I set the interview up, he didn't call me to set it up) and I think it went well. I drove 6 hours there and 6 hours back, but it was worth it. But I know this disaster is causing people to push back the hiring process. The news director I talked to yesterday said he had been hoping to have hired someone at the beginning of this month, and the job posting went up about the second week of August. But luckily, I won't have to wait too long. He told me he would let me know his decision one way or the other by the end of next week. So wish me luck people! And my sincerest condolences and prayers for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. May God bless those that survived, and heal those that have lost loved ones.

Okkkaaaaay. So apparently I'm going to end up doing this weekly, and only at work. I completely forgot about it until I was researching a story, one of the search results was on a blog.

Well, on to my week. It was boring. I did do a story about an organization receiving a grant from HUD, it was very uplifting and motivated me to really work on finding some volunteer opportunities. I'm doing another story tomorrow morning, something to do with NASCAR. And so I have 3 good, well written stories I could put on my tape, but I'm wondering if it's necessary to have a hard news story on there. After tomorrow, I could send out tapes on Wednesday, but I'm worried that they'd want something a little more well-rounded. In that case, I'd have to go out with someone at work either this week or next week, possibly missing some jobs. But if it's not God's will, then so be it.

Well, I had to create a blog so I could comment on one of my friends' blogs, so here it is. I don't know that I'll post much, seeing as how I really only created this to vent during my journey as a journalist, but I'll do my best.

So, my first real experience dealing with journalism and finding a job was at the NABJ convention in Atlanta. I met a lot of great people, a lot of people highly ranked in the industry, and even had my resume tape critiqued. They all said the same thing, great stories, work on your voice. The first critic even told me that he didn't think I'd make it in the business. But I
'm not discouraged at all. My boyfriend has a friend that works at the station I want to work at in Louisiana. I sent my tape last week, and he looked at it, told me it was good and that I might be getting a call soon, so things are looking up so far. But I'm still working on my tape, having to deal with people that don't know what they want me to do, but want me to do it anyway. I'll talk more about that later when I'm sure I'll be in this week.

So if you have any comments, advice, questions, encouragement, feel free to drop me a line!!!!