Surrounded by people willing to help

I feel blessed each and every day because I am good at what I love to do. I am happy to be working for the San Antonio Express-News. The people here are amazing; someone is always willing to help. I am indebted to my editors and co-workers for the answers to the millions of questions that I have asked. They are never too busy to help. That is one thing I should have known from going to D.C. and meeting Chipsters from past years: People really are genuine in wanting to help.

Being a political reporter is intimidating, and that took me a while to figure out. Now I realize that there is much more to reporting than just stating the facts. Reporting is saying the facts in your own voice. The same story is told here every day by six other journalists from various newspapers, so I constantly have to fight to find a way to tell it differently. It is such a challenge. It thrills me and drives me to do better.

-- Isadora Vail-Castro, Texas State University-San Marcos, San Antonio Express-News

Magic from editors

The first time my editor was unhappy with me I thought my career in journalism was over. She was mad that I didn't turn in a story on time. I was assigned two stories and dropped the ball on one. I learned to say when I have too much on my plate. Another lesson I learned is that it’s not personal, it’s business. I was afraid my editor didn't like me as a person. She is tough, but I realized that it is from people like her that I will benefit the most.

I enjoy sitting behind her while she edits my stories. It’s like magic to see her change my text from what I wrote to what I meant to write. Good editors are those who leave the writer with a sense of gratitude for improving his story. I am blessed to have good, albeit tough, editors.

I also learned that instead of walking off the court every time I drop the ball, I should pick it up and remember that I love this game too much to quit.

-- Aman Mehrzai, Ohlone College, The Oakland (Calif.) Tribune

A helpful and friendly newsroom

The Press & Sun-Bulletin is great.

When I first got here, Steve Spero, assistant managing editor-online, told me what to expect in the newsroom. He said to imagine when cartoon characters get into a fight and a dust cloud forms; then one of the characters steps out of the cloud and talks to the audience. He said that I was the audience and the newsroom was the dust cloud. Any time I needed help, I could ask someone to step out and talk to me. The newsroom doesn’t seem quite like a dust cloud. It’s more like a semi-opaque fog that thins and thickens depending on the gravity and urgency of stories, and often characters appear out of it whether I ask for them or not.

I haven’t met a reporter or editor who wasn’t helpful, and usually editors ask me if I can do stories rather than tell me to do them. We have teams that consist of an editor and two to five reporters. I’m on Metro Editor Doug Schneider’s team. We meet weekly and discuss what we’re working on and get and give feedback. This keeps us all involved with each other’s stories as they develop. The people here are interesting and very good at what they do. I can count on two things each day: a good story in the paper and a good laugh in the newsroom. I’ve made a few rookie mistakes, but my editors have been helpful and constructive -- never condescending.

The first weeks I was here, I wasn’t used to doing stories in a day and I’d often stay in the newsroom until 7 p.m., even though I got off at 6. A few copy editors teased me about working too hard and said that they never saw me leave my desk. I told them, “I don’t work too hard; I’m just a little slow.” Immediately, Steve Spero popped his head up and said, “But you’re good.” I’ve been moving straight up since then.

-- David Lipscomb, University of Maryland, Press & Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, N.Y.

Little story with a big payoff

One piece of advice from orientation that I’ve tried to put to use is writing the best “little” story possible. A few weeks ago, I was assigned to write about a husband and wife in nearby Defiance, Mo., who won $1 million in the state lottery. It was supposed to be a quick, short read. But I wanted to write the best lottery story ever. So when I met them at the country gas station where they bought the ticket, I looked for good details. It turned out that neither of them planned to quit working. The husband was a construction worker with a laborer’s callused hands. His wife mentioned that she wanted him to get a manicure, so I led with a description of that. (I hope he didn’t catch too much flack at work the next day!) I was really happy with the way the story turned out. It ended up on Page One of the metro section. Another reporter paid me a nice compliment on it, too. It was a nice slice of life in 426 words.

-- Adam Kealoha Causey, Louisiana State University, St. Louis Post-Dispatch