Enterprise — Due Monday, July 7
June 30, 2008
Hello Inkslingers and Snapshotters!
Our jumping-off point this week is this Scholar’s condundrum: “I usually can get creative about enterprise stories. But often I have trouble following through on them. I struggle with letting myself get into long enterprise pieces. I am afraid that I will put tons of time into it, and it will never run. Or I’m afraid that it will end up consuming me.”
Who else feels this way? What have you done to overcome this feeling — or what can you imagine yourself doing that might help in overcoming it? How are you doing with balancing your assigned stories with your enterprise work? — Coach Col
Haha, well that was THIS scholars’ conundrum.
And yes, I would LOVE some advice on how to overcome my enterprise fears. It’s especially haunting me right now because I start my night cops position in a week. And in order to be super successful in the position (and let’s be honest–recover my social life by moving out of night hours ASAP), I MUST do enterprise work. I must come up with stories on my own, pitch them on my own, follow through on my own–all on my own. Nobody will say ANYTHING if I don’t do that. So I NEED self-motivation and serious time-management skills. This will be a struggle because few people are available to be interviewed at night, and I must have one ear on the scanner all the time.
I spoke with another repoter at The Kansas City Star who earned a great beat after his night cops beat. He said that he just had to do work outside of his hours and not get paid for it. “That was a pill I had to swallow,” he said, if he wanted to get out of night hours. I’m willing to do that. But I don’t want to be putting in my own hours and then have it amount to nothing and not run. I think I’d lose my mind and start seriously questioning the meaning of my life.
That’s a fear now, especially with such limited space in the daily these days.
I know that some people just break enterprise up into hours. For example, if I just tell myself, “OK I’ll put one to two hours a day into this story.” The problem is that I am the type that just likes to absorb myself into one project and get really into it. I hate to do a little bit here and there. But alas, I know I can overcome…
Yes, so your scholarly thoughts? Thanks!
Well, I don’t really work on these type of stories. I wished I could convince the AP to let the intern cover more in-depth issues, but as we all know the AP are kings of one picture and 200 word stories, thats their nature.
In my past experience on personal enterprise stories, i put them into a the bigger perspective and figure out a time management/budget. Thats the only way I can roll with these type of stories, I need deadlines to keep my motivation going, also a money helps tooooo.
I plan to put in hours that will go unnoticed and work hard out of the office.
Yes, not getting paid for work sucks…but if you love your job and love your enterprise story idea, it will not feel like work. Even if it doesn’t run, be content you worked hard and learned things and are a better journalist and consider it one less story you will have to put time in later in life when you are boss enough to make sure it prints! — Afterall, none of us are in the field to be billionaires and the fact of the matter is that this is, more or less, a thankless job, but we love it anyway.
I have a hard time with this too. The only in-depth story I did was about ethanol in one of my classes. In fact, the entire class was dedicated to this one project. We worked on it for a year, and every week we met to discuss what we had accomplished and what still needed to be done.
I learned that the best way I work is through deadlines. That might seem like an obvious statement. We all seem to work best like that. However, I find that I not only need to make a list of the things I want to accomplish in a certain time frame, but also the steps by which I’m going to do them. At the beginning of the day, I come in a make a list of the things I want to have done by the end of the day…that might include a number of sources I want to contact, a number of interviews I want to schedule or the number of studies I want to find related to the subject.
All that’s not too difficult, it’s getting myself to stick to it that’s the hard part.
Also, I think it helps to have someone give you feedback. We have a writing coach at the Post-Crescent. The idea of having someone look at my work (or even having someone to be accountable to) makes me feel a little more determined to do the job right.
I know I’ve felt this way on more than one occasion. I’m not really afraid that it will never run, but I am afraid that it will take more time than what’s scheduled on the budget. I think it’s important to continue to follow up. I made some calls two weeks ago for a story that probably won’t run until the end of this month. I want to give myself plenty of time in case the story changes and that way I can produce a solid enterprise.
Easier said than done, but like Colleen mentioned, it’s important not to be afraid that enterprise stories will consume too much of your time. First off, we really don’t have that much time left at our internships, and second, think of how awesome it will be to present your next editor with enterprise pieces.
I’ve been really busy lately with daily assignments from my editor, but I’ve definitely been putting in extra hours to stay on top of enterprises I have lined up for this month. I think Mimi makes a good point to stay organized throughout your day and figure out when you can fit in everything else, rather than trying to do it all at once.
What I’ve been doing with an idea I have is doing semi-research at work and then getting back into it once I’m home. What I mean is, once you know what you’re interested in writing about, find the links and who you need to speak with and make lists of every resource, and then when you’re at home, conduct the real work. Maybe your “lunch break” could turn into a phone interview instead, even though that’s not the number one choice. But knowing what you want to write about and achieving a feasible outline is half the battle, in my opinion.
Oy vey, after a pleasant June, Ohio is finally feeling like the Midwest I expected.
With regard to enterprise anxieties, I think I’m finally getting over this hurdle, though enterprise reporting isn’t really in the cards at my paper.
Perhaps I’m a dolt, but in the past I’ve had difficulty coming up with thoughtful story ideas — and it was frustrating as hell because I felt I was on the verge, yet missing one small but enabling piece.
That, and the work seemed daunting. As a person who, from time to time, has had crippling social anxieties, I can testify that an act as basic as calling a source can be overwhelming. (Tangentially, I think some of my best work has been the product of deadline because there’s no time to worry.)
I’m not entirely sure what changed. But I suspect it is a combination of developing a proficient level of cultural literacy, reporting ability, and self-confidence. Quite the trifecta. It also seems to affirm the truism about what can’t be taught in J-school.
Well, I have a hard time with this too. I usually go into work earlier than most reporters and start working on it, sometimes i even stay late, researching, making phone calls, talking to other reporters, etc. And if im not so exhausted from the days work then id take my work home with me and try to work on it there. Talking about story ideas and how to structure it and work through it with veteran reporters too. i find that if i tell then my idea, what i know about it, and how i plan to go about it, they will tell me if its already been done, if i have a good plan, etc.
I’ve also been having trouble coming up with good story ideas. And in all honesty it’s a bit of a relief to see I’m not the only one. I’ve been pretty busy, but it’s really more that I don’t have an idea that I feel is strong enough to be a good story.
Timewise, I feel kind of guilty if I spend some time doing some research while I have another story I need to do. It feels like I should give priority to the story that’s due, but as soon as I finish there’s another that needs doing. Again though, I’m sure once I get a good idea and get it vetted I’ll be able to take it from there. It’s just taking that first step.
Well, my first day on the cops beat was yesterday. And I covered a story that the paper had missed about two bodies found in the Missouri River. They ended up being a couple who had gone missing on Fourth of July. Not a bad first story.
As far as enterprise, it sounds like it takes extra time and extra work also time management and discipline. Oh and social skills to be able to pitch the story to your editor and get him to fight for it to get in. (At least that’s the case at The Star). I think we all have varying levels of those skills and are able to improve them.
I talked by my mentor and an old reporter who had done a good job on the cops beat. They told me to take my first month or two to just get used to the beat, read other cops reports and not worry about enterprise right away. That really helped me.
That doesn’t directly relate to you all as your internships are shorter, but it does remind me of something that we all relate to: that I must be patient with myself. I can’t do it all at once. I am not going to be the reporter that I want to be right away.
Maybe you can take your first internship to do a good job with daily stories and get to know the newsroom. Do one solid enterprise. Brainstorm ideas. Then next year at your next internship you can master the enterprise. And if it doesn’t get in, like Sally said, at least you learned.
So while we strive for enterprise, we need to also be patient with ourselves, the process, the story, the journalism business (which is slow to progress by many critics standards). Patience is one of those virtues reporters may not be exactly inclined to :). But it’s worth striving for … ofcourse while keeping to the work ethic that is apparent here.
And who knows, maybe that patience being developed will help us be diligent with those long and time-consuming enterprise stories that we will master someday.
Hey Friends — love how we start and come full circle with Meredith on this one….
The original issues: worried about putting time into a story that won’t run, and how to handle a consuming project, given all the other assignments….
A hearty second to your answers. On the first issue, it’s important to get buy-in from your editor. Keep your editor in the loop as you initiate and report the story; solicit feedback from him/her; convey your enthusiasm and confidence; get him/her as excited about the story as you are.
On the second issue, yes, I’m afraid time-management rears its head again (remember our earlier blog on this). So it’s important to figure out which approaches work best for you….and as Mimi and Candace point out, enlisting others to help “hold your feet to the fire” in the absence of a firm deadline might be one approach. Does your paper have a writing coach who could help? What about a fellow reporter/photog whom you trust and who also wants to do his/her own enterprise story — can you push and help motivate each other?
Also, Meredith’s comments about being patient with yourself are so valuable. Many expectations are placed on you this summer — not least of all your own — and it’s important to keep in mind how much you’ve accomplished already and how much is realistic to expect to accomplish. (was that grammatical?!) My sense as I talk/e-mail with you about your individual goals is that you have a handle on this. Pravda? —Coach Col
PS I’m happy to talk over story ideas with anyone, anytime…
If you’re working on an enterprise story that doesn’t have a definite deadline, just set it aside while you’re working on other stories and the right angles will come to you. In terms of making time for it, try convincing your editor that your enterprise story is interesting and will add value to the paper — then they might be more willing to cut you some slack on the daily assignments.
Super late, sorry.
Can definitely relate to what everyone has said. Finding time to work on enterprise is hard. I have been able to do a few mini enterprise projects, stuff that took a week or so to work on. I think the reason I was able to crank those out is because my editor and I set specific deadlines for the stories, and I kept her in the loop on my problems, progress. etc.
I have a longer enterprise story that I had been trying to work on, but it requires a LOT of time, particularly in grooming sources to talk about personal financial struggles. That one I have made only a little progress in. It’s a really ambitious project, one that would be great to pull off, but I am running out of time. Dailies consume a lot of my time, and it’s hard to research and do interviews for the enterprise story. I’m on night cops this week, so I’ve been trying to use my days outside the newsroom to make some headway on it.
I like the idea about planning certain tasks to accomplish each day. Even if the goal is only one interview, that’s one more interview to tackle, and a little progress everyday will eventually make a huge dent in finishing the story.
I agree with others who have suggested setting a deadline for yourself when working on enterprise stories. In the past, I’ve gone as far as setting up a regularly scheduled meeting with an editor to talk about the story. I’ve also written proposals for enterprise stories that include deadlines to check to check in with an editor. This probably sounds a like a lot, but it gives me a lot of motivation to make some real progress before meeting the editor again.
I also agree that these are the type of stories that we’ll have to work on outside of work. For the last couple of years I’ve asked veteran reporters and editors how they managed to complete longer in-depth stories, and almost all have said they’ve worked on them outside of work. The good news, from what I hear, is that as you move further along in your career, editors will actually give you the time that you need at work to complete enterprise stories.
So I guess it’s a matter of paying your dues on the front end.
Enterprise stories are what some of your best work will come from. If you have trouble following through on them I would suggest to find a story that touches you or has substance enough to keep your interest a month later. If your able and lucky I would plan about 1 month or so to have time to work on it; being able to contact different interviews, recontact to get facts straight and just be able to have a final piece that you feel proud of.
Don’t worry too much about putting time into it, if you have cleared the story with an editor I would say it has a good chance of running but if not I would focus on making the story a good piece for your personal portfolio. That way it has a home and you get to be proud of a story that interests you and have put so much time into.
I will get my assigned stories done first and then work on the enterprise stories but if you have enough time it’s good to work on an assigned story, take a break with the enterprise and then finish the assigned. It’s good for me to jump back and forth because it keeps me interested in my work and gives me perspective from each story.