Quick turnaround

If there's one facet of my writing that I need to work on (news or otherwise), it would be the speed with which I churn out a story. I believe that I am simply to slow--at least at this point in my career--to be an effective sports writer.

I don't know what it is that keeps me from getting a story out quickly. Perhaps it's that I'm simply to cerebral when it comes to writing. I think about it too much before hand, trying to organize it all in my head before I put it on paper. And then a lot of times I find that if i just start putting something on paper, it get's me going creatively and then it's much quicker to find my story and go back and reorganize at the end if necessary.

These blog posts are really great for me in that I don't have to think a whole lot about writing when I write them. Most times I just write whatever pops into my head. But with news stories it's not that simple for me.

That's why I am always amazed at the quick turnaround that sports writers have to achieve. For example, just last night I caught the end of the San Jose Sharks victory over the Dallas Stars after my brother's Christmas choral concert. The Sharks took the victory 5-2 over Dallas and the game concluded at just a few minutes before 10 p.m.

Shortly after, I checked the San Jose Mercury News to see if there was a game story up yet. I was not surprised to find that a game story had been posted at 10:38 p.m., a short 40 minutes after the game's conclusion. Professional reporters achieve this all the time.

Nonetheless, I still find it impressive how they can write a story so quickly and efficiently, two aspects of my writing that probably could use the most polishing.