I’m going to start the semester by celebrating a small success. The hardest part of any story or project for me is getting started. When it’s time to make that first phone call, I usually get a headache and ways to put it off fill my mind. I give in to those excuses knowing I’m only making the phone call harder.
Yesterday, the excuses didn’t come. But perhaps they didn’t have a chance. I was doing background research for a story on the power plant and my editor told me people with really cool cameras were doing something at the columns on the quad. He asked me to go figure out what was going on. And I went.
The men were working for one of the university’s contractors and said they couldn’t tell me why they were taking high-tech laser readings of the columns. So, I called the director of campus facilities, who I needed to talk to about both the columns story and the power plant story. I didn’t hesitate.
Part of it was urgency. I was on the scene, not getting answers and on deadline. Part of it was resolve. Resolve to banish my childhood fear of cold calling to the Smith-Corona word processor graveyard. When I was 8 years old, my mom asked me to call a store to see how late they were open. I panicked, sobbed, pleaded, screamed out of fear of talking to a stranger over the phone. Now I laugh at an irrational fear. Someday, I know I will look back on my first phone call phobia and laugh harder.
Progress report:
This week has been about getting started. I’m working a story about the power plant. They’re burning wood chips in addition to coal and corncobs. More details to come. There are three topics I enjoy reading and reporting on ¬– energy, environment, economics – and they intersect in some fascinating ways. I’m looking forward to covering them this semester.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment