Six Months In

I have been a full-time reporter at a daily paper for six months now. I made a list of things I'd learned when I was fresh out of journalism school, so I thought I'd add some of my practical experiences so far.

• Working in a small town is rough at first. It takes ages to figure out all the local gossip and even longer for people to trust you; and in the meantime there's nothing to do on the weekends and you can't get a decent coffee anywhere. But it's worth it in the long run, because you end up trying a bit of everything and learning about a part of society you might not be familiar with.
• Nothing really prepares you for interviewing a man who just got laid off from his job, or facing an angry parent whose child is being bullied at school because of an article you wrote. All you can do is stay calm, be fair, and try to have as much empathy as possible. Never lose sight of the fact that you are affecting people's lives in a very real way.
• You'll also get a lot of political staffers and corporate PR people angry with you, and there is aaaaabsolutely nothing wrong with that. You just annoy the crap out of them. (Politely.)
• Being a reporter gives you this weird authority to go places people usually aren't allowed to go, like the front of a courtroom or the middle of a parade. Just stride around like you own the place and look thoughtful while holding your notebook, and most of the time no-one questions you. 
• Make sure there's a memory card in your camera. Did you check? You didn't check, did you? And now a bunch of school kids are waiting for you to take their picture and you feel like a moron.
• Okay, fine, Ms Munroe - attending your shorthand class three hours a day ended up being very useful.
• You know that thing where the editor completely rewrites your first paragraph so it's ten times more shocking, right under your byline so everyone thinks you wrote it? Yeah, that's fun.
• Also fun: coaxing people to give you an interview on a big story, only to have a national TV network steal them from you at the last minute. I'm looking at you, Campbell Live.
• Learn when to rely on other reporters, and when to be suspicious of them.
• Keep all-weather shoes in the car.
• No matter how tiny and parochial your newspaper is, someone is going to yell at you about freedom of speech and the political-media complex and god knows what else. If you can't ignore them, give them 30 seconds and then hang up.
• You will never have more free time than at this point in your career, so take advantage of it. Study. Network. Figure out your strengths and learn to market them.
• Just try not to drink too much, okay?