blocked writers
it was a feeling akin to late-night-funny-do-stuff poker from high school. how the weekends pass by. been trying to find ways to pass the time to stop the pining.
earlier in the year i applied to be a columnist for the aggie, a great source of daily mild amusement whenever i come to class early. except for the lamar dude. that guys my hero. occasionally ill see him at safeway but i have yet to thank him, and by thank i mean conducting a personal interview with aspirations to potentially job shadow him, followed by an unheard of tip as a bagger. unfortunately they rejected me, probably because i rushed the deadline and instead of writing 3 sample columns i just copied and pasted 3 blog entries. grossu. not professional at all, especially knowing that i dont even utilize proper capitalization or punctuation. actually i really wanted to work for the school newspaper, but didnt know where to start. so as an introduction to my application i wrote the following:
I'm well aware that specific rules exist in the world of column
writing. And as harmful as this may sound for my case, I know none of
these rules. The material being presented here is actually a
culmination of past blog entries. Most of the
reason lies in my love for writing and the desire to entertain, or
perhaps even enlighten students like me. My writing is entirely
flexible; I can tell a funny story or I can provide a serious analysis
of student society. The job requirement states, "Columnists must be
strong writers, be able to handle criticism, and keep a column fresh
for 28 academic weeks." Armed with a unique writing style and voice,
I feel the material presented here satisfies the first requirement.
The other requirements are certainly within my realm of capability.
Unfortunately, a lack of any journalism experience inhibits me from
transforming amateur babbling to respectable professionalism. And
this is where I make a small request. Even if the material stinks I'd
appreciate some direction pointing to where I can learn the ins and
outs of journalism. Since freshman year when I first picked up a
footprint coated copy from under my seat in Chem194, I've felt
regularly entertained and informed by your publication. As a junior I
feel its time to make the return and attempt to serve the newspaper
that consistently serves me. Any beneficial feedback would be gladly
accepted—even anything on how to start working at the lowest level of
gruntwork for the California Aggie would be appreciated.
heres their thorough reply laced with overabundant amounts of beneficial feedback:
Michael,
Thank you for applying to be a columnist with The California Aggie. Unfortunately, due to the large number of applications we received, the selection process was very competitive.
I encourage you to write letters to the editor or guest opinions regularly if interested. Thanks again and best of luck with your future endeavors.
The California Aggie
wow. i think i received the generic rejection letter sent to all of the other losers. i kindly asked how to go about gaining journalism experience and instead im redirected to writing letters to the editor? bastards. sending me to the bottom of the barrel. when i said lowest levels of grunt work i didnt mean unofficially submit work to be unpaid. recently they've decided to allow "guest columnists" so ill think of something to write up.
