This happened yesterday about 3.30pm on a day with an early deadline when I was trying to skive off work on time to attend a party and mop up some free booze:
"Hey (editor's name), how much do you want on that Neptune story?"
"Not as much as I want on the lead you're about to write."
"Um what?"
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"Oh yeah we need a lead - you're writing it."
One of the things I have found hardest about the new job is the shadow of a daily deadline. When you have a weekly deadline you can reflect on your stories a lot more. Opening paragraphs can be fiddled with, angles considered overnight and the whole thing generally polished.
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With a daily deadline everything has to be done immediately. You have to make decisions faster, think not less but quicker and trust yourself more. The pay off, of course, is seeing your story in print the next day and feeling a thrill of 'I did that' pride.
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On the downside (again) my blog readers have to read this self congratulatory slush. It's all about pros and cons, isn't it?
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