Blogging in Relaxing.

I think I like blogging on my lunch break…it’s relaxing.

Tuesday I came up with several different concepts for the Centralight ad, spinning off of one of my original concepts. At the end of the day, he came in and said he really liked my classified ad concept (I’ll post more if we use it). Unfortunately, there are no graphic designers available anytime soon to work on it. So more on that to come.

Dan brought me the page dummies for CMU Welcomes You and I started inserting the ads. That is what I spent the rest of the day doing. Some were very easy to do…and others were huge pains because the ads weren’t the right size.

This morning I finished up a CMUWY article with a quote about academic advising. I will be interviewing an adviser on Friday morning to finish up another article and am waiting on approval for my transfer student article. The Volunteer Center article is in between – I sent it for approval and it was returned with a few changes, but the woman said she might want to make more. Its a little frustrating.

Dan brought me two new projects – adding to an article about Upward Bound and writing the text for a landing page for a web page about diversity posters.

I have sent the landing page text to Sydnee to see what she thinks – whether I need more or less – because she has been with the project since the beginning.

I have not started on the Upward Bound article since I am waiting to hear back from a source.

This morning Dan and I talked about me working an extra day. It looks like I’ll probably come in on Fridays, since I have class Monday and Wednesday afternoons. But I won’t be in tomorrow since I had already made plans to go to Dow Gardens with a friend.

Check back later to read about the rest of my day.

Never save your best quote for last…

Yesterday I worked on CMUWY articles. I’m still getting in approvals and making changes. For some reason, my spreadsheet tracking everything related to the publication was deleted. I save every approval and email related to CMUWY in a file, so it wasn’t too big of a deal to go back through and make another speadsheet to track the approvals and anything else I am still waiting on.

Since there is a tabloid-style paper for orientation, Dan told me to go out and track one down. I went around campus and couldn’t find any. I called student publications and they said I could go pick one up from their office. My feet were killing me, so I returned to my office. While I was out, I picked up an orientation guide. It gave me a few more ideas on what I could do with CMUWY.

By Thursday, I should have the page dummies in and be able to start working on the actual publication. They put a new computer in my office with InDesign CS3. Since I had to drop that one class, I plan on stopping by the library today to get a book on InDesign.

I was asked to cover a story for Reference Point on a Saturday in June. I had to check my schedule, but it looks like I can do it. I don’t know much other than what the invitation says right now. Basically, it is a library luncheon with a speaker.

Lessons of the Day: Dan gave me two writing tips today: (1) Never save your best quote for last, and (2) Write tight – so tight that it will be hard for your editor to cut anything.

You Just Need Ambition…

Yesterday, I mostly worked on CMU Welcomes You. With any new information I had, I finished up a few articles and sent them to be approved. With any approvals I received, I changed any information that needed to be changed. This morning I received several more approvals. I think that the publication materials are coming along pretty well.

I also typed up some copy for an ad going into the PBS booklet. It was fairly simple to do. The only thing I missed was to italicize the title of the exhibit at Clarke Historical Library.

I’m excited about this upcoming Friday because I will be going to a project management workshop. I won’t be paid for the time I will be there, but that doesn’t bother me. I’m sure it will be well worth it. I think I will learn a lot.

I do have some bad news. Originally, I was going to be taking a second class this summer that teaches you how to use Adobe InDesign. After purchasing a car this past weekend (and spending more than I had planned), I had to drop the class. The class fills up quickly every semester, so I will have to wait and see when I can take it next.

I do plan on teaching myself more about Adobe InDesign. There are several books about InDesign at the library that I plan to check out soon. Dan has already taught me the basics, so I know I can learn a lot by myself.

Lesson of the Day: You don’t have to take a class if you want to learn. You just need ambition and a good library book.

InDesign, Writing, & Editing

Yesterday was a great day. In the morning, Dan gave me a short tutorial on how to use Adobe InDesign. I had been using Microsoft Publisher for most things before. In high school, I did the layout for the newspaper with Publisher for two years. I caught on very quickly to InDesign. I practiced setting up pages with text and photos whenever I had free time during the day. Now that I have a basic understanding of the program, JRN 302 should be a breeze (in JRN 302 you learn to use InDesign).

I completed my article about Pridgeon and submitted it to Dan. He read it over and said it was good and pointed out a few changes that I could make. He told me that he wasn’t going to tell me exactly what to put because he “didn’t want to take away my voice.” He said the article would be perfect if we were going to be printing it that day, but since it is for a publication he said we can perfect it even more. I thought this was great because I am able to learn to correct my own mistakes and perfect my own words. I know that I am a fairly good writer, but I want to become even better. I can already see that this internship is going to help me do that.

So I went back through the Pridgeon feature. I re-worked the lead and discussed it with Dan. The lead seemed to be the hardest part for me. Dan told me to imagine I was telling the story to my brother…how would I start it? I wouldn’t start by just bluntly telling the important details. I would first intrigue my audience to get them into the story. I re-worked the rest of the article and sent it back to Dan.

Dan sent two stories about a coach and asked me to edit them into one for the Viewpoint. It wasn’t a difficult task, although the fact that I know nothing about sports was a little intimidating. Luckily, the “complicated sports stuff” didn’t need editing. I sent it back to him and he said it was fine and he just moved a few little things around.

At the end of the day, Dan said that I would get more stories to write soon and other things to work on. I also will be starting work on CMU Welcomes You soon.

Lesson of the Day: Write like you’re telling a story to someone to their face. Intrigue them and draw them in.