My first book

I haven't talked about this much, but it's been a little rough transitioning from five years of news writing to magazine writing. In college, my professors taught me that adjectives were my enemies and to not say something in 10 words when I can say it in five. Well now I pretty much have to throw all that out the window. Needless to say, it's been more than a little frustrating. I haven't seen my stories bleed this much since I was a freshman. 

Yesterday, Mary gave me one of the main features in an upcoming magazine for practice. I worked all day on it, trying to sound cutesy but not like I was trying too hard; making sure my sentences were short while still saying enough. I felt good about it when I turned it in. It still came back all marked up, but instead of major changes it was more changing a few words here and there. She said it was really good and that she was seeing improvement in me.

Well today I got my first issue to do all on my own. It's an "in-house" issue, meaning I do it while I'm in the office instead of being a freelance issue where I take it home. I don't get paid anything more for it, but she said that once I finish this I'd be ready to do a freelance magazine. 

I'm really excited. I'm basically acting editor in chief for this book. I'm doing everything - creating a line up (deciding what goes on what pages), writing EVERYTHING, getting all the pictures, editing it. It's my book. This is a big perk of working on a small staff, and how awesome will this look on my resume?! 

I have three weeks to finish everything (it's 90 pages). It's going to be a challenge and is a bit daunting, but I really hope I live up to Mary's expectations. 

=)