My advice to a high school graduate

Journalism

Every now and then I get email from students asking me for advice about working in my field. I had a lot to say this time around, so I’m posting my entire response here.

“I think becoming a journalist would be a perfect dream for me to pursue. I was just wondering if you could share the path you have taken to achieve your goals and dreams. Clearly picking a career is a very significant step in your life and I just want advice from the best in the game. Thanks!!!! —Derick”

Hi Derick,

Thanks so much for writing to me! It’s awesome that you know what you want to do with your life already. In my opinion, that’s the most difficult step.

Since you asked about what I’ve done in particular, I’ll give you some advice that, in my experience, has been exceedingly helpful. However, I don’t think that my career path is the only—or even the best—way to become a professional journalist.

Learn to write like a journalist

People can be born writers, but there are no born journalists.

Journalism is a form of technical writing with specific elements that must be learned. I was an English major in college, but the journalism courses I took there and in graduate school were like learning to write all over again in a different style. Writing for journalism is so dramatically different because its purpose is so different—to be as informative and transparent as possible.

Also, (you knew this was coming,) it’s important to get the foundations down first in the form of spelling and grammar. Sometimes people ask me why I continue to think this is so important when reporters have spell-check and editors to look things over. The truth is, good spelling and grammar make you a faster writer. When you second guess the spelling of every word while at the same time focusing on writing an informative article, it slows you down.

Learn to code

When I was 13, I wrote in my diary that when I grew up, I either wanted to be a journalist or a computer programmer. I’m really lucky I picked that backup career.

Starting in HTML4 and moving to CSS and JavaScript in high school and college, I’m completely self taught but still considered competent enough to teach college courses on the subject. I wouldn’t recommend teaching yourself how to write like a journalist, but I am of the definite opinion that there are enough resources online for you to learn code the way I did.

Looking back, I’m glad I learned about this foundation of the Internet, which is both the location and topic of my reporting. Even now that the Web has gotten so much more user friendly, I think it’s important for Web journalists to become familiar with the place they practice their craft.

Don’t give up

It’s no secret to anyone who’s been reading my blog for awhile that my career path has not been glamorous. After I got my masters degree in journalism, my first job out of school was folding towels at a gym. I had such a hard time finding a not-minimum-wage job, I created a Tumblr where I applied to 30 jobs in 30 days. I worked on contract as a Web developer for a while after that. It wasn’t until a year after I graduated that I got hired by the Daily Dot.

What worked for me? I never stopped writing in my blog that entire time. Even though my career seemed to be directionless, I continued to write about the topics I hoped to one day be hired to write about. As I’ve written before, you can make your own luck. I put myself out there enough and eventually won Susannah Breslin’s contest for female journalists, which caught the attention of my current employer, which brought me to where I am now.

Even now, I never underestimate the potential of Trying Really Hard. When I wanted to write an article for CNN, I pitched the editor over and over again for weeks before she responded and asked me to write about something. It was draining, and I worried about being obnoxious, but it did work.

Granted, the country is mostly out of the recession it was in back when I graduated, but I imagine that means now, my techniques would just have faster results. Keep up your stamina. Keep tossing things against the wall until something sticks.

That’s my story. Now work hard and write me back with yours!

Best,
Lauren

September in Japantown

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Better late than never, right?

Last month I went to San Francisco for the Online News Association Conference. I haven’t been to the conference since 2010 (blog post here!) when I was in graduate school and assisting the Student Newsroom.

This time, I was invited to speak on a panel called Jumping the Line about how blogging on my own helped me find a real job. I’ve admired my co-panelist—Mark Luckie—for years, because he’s done the same thing I’ve done but on a much grander scale. Not only did he begin a legitimate journalism career by starting a blog, but he has gone on to sell that blog, work for the Washington Post and then Twitter, and write a book. The panel was not recorded, but it was really all the stuff I’m always harping on already anyway!

However, I only stayed at the conference one day. Ever since my February visit, I couldn’t get Japantown off my mind. This time, John was able to join me and see it, too. The above photo is us at the Japantown Peace Plaza.

We stayed at the Hotel Tomo, which I first heard about on episode 1 of TokyoPop’s America’s Greatest Otaku. I let the concierge know that when I made my reservation, and they even gave me a discount!

Hotel Tomo used to be a Best Western, but there’s one thing that makes it really special. In every room, there’s an original manga-style mural by Heisuke Kitazaw. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take a photo of it without glare for anything.

We spent a lot of time in the dining and shopping arcade that makes up most of Japantown. I bought a new Gundam model, Chibi Gundam Unicorn, but mostly just window-shopped. We ate chicken and shrimp okonomiyaki at the restaurant Steven showed me last time I was in town.

Since this was John’s first time in San Francisco, we did a lot of touristy things, too. We rode a trolley, took lots of photos of the Golden Gate Bridge, and watched the sea lions at Pier 39. It was the Autumn Moon Festival in Chinatown, so we checked that out, too, even though Chinatown is pretty much one big, steep hill.

On our last night there, we visited a manga cafe called On The Bridge, a long and narrow restaurant that was literally on the bridge of the Japantown arcade. We both ordered the chicken curry and shochu fruit cocktails and pulled manga from the shelves lining the walls while we ate. Perfect restaurant for introverts. Sitting there reading a 2007 copy of Shoujo Beat and eating spoonfuls of spicy-sweet curry was probably the most mindlessly relaxed I’ve felt in a long time.

Sexism in Anime Fandom at Otakon 2012: Watch the panel!

Fandom

It is with great excitement and trepidation that I share this video with you. Filmed by Lawrence Brenner, it’s expertly edited to display each of our slides while we’re discussing it. Unfortunately, it has also preserved every nervous look and “uhm.” It’s a little painful for me to watch*, but you can bet I’ve been reviewing it in order to improve my speaking skills. Check it out below, and tell me what you think!

(Note: Lawrence had a busy schedule at the con, and didn’t make it to the panel until our fourth slide. The clip starts silently while it runs through our initial slides before breaking into video of our event.)

*Pro-tip: if you want to be taken seriously during an important presentation, wear cat ears.

Read my 2012 Otakon coverage

Journalism

Convention reporting is like nothing else I do.

Sure, after the fact it’s utterly exhausting. I return home with pages of notes and crawl into bed, not yet able to face a week of turning my scribbles into cohesive stories. But during the process, it’s the most energizing experience a fandom reporter can possibly have. Since I’m an online community reporter, I work remotely most of the time. Actually being among the community I’m covering is invigorating.

So even though I was pretty optimistic in planning out four stories to write over the course of three days, I ended up completing them all. (Six if you count two bonus photo galleries!) I didn’t get them all published last week like I’d planned, but they’re all up now. Here’s the lineup:

Memes in Meatspace: Cosplay inspired by the Internet

Here’s a photo gallery of some of the more creative Web culture inspired cosplay I encountered at Otakon. I love Tumblr-chan’s barrette!

Cosplaying While Latino: Capturing a community in costume

I interviewed Jackie Delgado, the curator of Tumblr blog Cosplaying While Latino. We talked about the role race plays in a cosplayer’s presentation, and answered the question, “Where ARE all the Latino cosplayers?”

Bonus: Cosplaying While Latino photo gallery!

Inside the strange, brave new world of Homestuck

This one is definitely going to be the subject of a “The Inside Story” post this week. Usually when I write about a fandom, I have at least some familiarity with the source material. But due to Homestuck’s colossal size and complexity, I approached this fully as an outsider. Read to figure out why everyone at anime conventions has horns these days.

The changing face of brony fandom

This article took the longest. I chatted with dozens of bronies who were new to the fandom at Otakon. Then last week, I interviewed Dr. Patrick Edwards, a clinical psychologist and one of the nation’s premiere “bronyologists” to assess how the fandom has changed since its beginning.

Bonus: Otakon brony shoot photo gallery!

It’s a far cry from two years ago, when I used to go to conventions and write up a single article afterward. I think the more you practice this type of field reporting, the more you can accomplish.

Is anyone else a practicing convention reporter, or somebody interested in convention reporting? If there’s any interest, I’d be glad to publish some of my tips.

Otakon 2012 in review

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Pinkie Pie party at Otakon 2012

After MAGfest, Animation On Display, and ROFLcon, Otakon was my fourth convention this year—and the third one I’ve worked through. Between four reporting projects and my first panel ever, I was worried I’d be too burnt out to enjoy it. Instead, my fifth Otakon turned out to be my favorite.

I’m a natural introvert, but the choices I made this year to report nonstop and give a panel propelled me to talk to dozens of new people and, as a result, have an amazing time.

I took 200 photos but I’m not sure which ones I want to publish on the Daily Dot yet and I don’t want to scoop myself, so here’s some Instagrams. Clockwise from left: 1) Patches and I immediately after leaving our panel; you can see the 4 from the “Panel Room 4” sign. His shirt says, “This is what a feminist looks like!” Yes, I’m wearing cat ears. 2) The line to get into our panel! We had a smaller panel room by Otakon standards, but we were still talking to 100+ people. 3) My newest Gundam kit, containing all three of Zeon’s aquatic models—I think the Acguy and Z’gok look like cute aquatic creatures. The Gogg, I’m not bowled over with. 4) Melon flavored sake at the Baltimore Inner Harbor.

My biggest accomplishment this weekend was joining the ranks of Otakon’s experienced panelists. Patches and I were nervous, and we even had a near-crisis with our technology just minutes before the panel, but everything worked out. In hindsight, I’m cracking up over the fact that we rehearsed what to do in case the audience didn’t have any questions—we had more than we could answer! If you missed it, stay tuned for an announcement later this week. Lawrence Brenner was kind enough to film us so we could make the panel available online. You can already view our slides here.

This is just the beginning of my Otakon coverage. I did so much reporting that I’ve got a new article about Otakon on the Daily Dot every day this week. So far just one is up—a photo gallery on Internet culture inspired costumes—but I’ll post the complete list on Friday.