While it is true that the newspaper industry has been struggling and has been making this shift to online while facing pressure from light entertainment such as Buzzfeed, there is still hope for young hungry aspiring journalist to get a piece of the pie. Here are a few tips to get you started on the career of your dreams as well as practical solutions to hone your skills.
If you love to write, this will give you a head start in your future career. It’ll make all the hours of hard work seem easier and practicing your writing skills should not be too hard. The better way to improve is to practice every day. When you consider the compounding effect of practicing every day, the earlier you start the better.
“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good. In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.”
― Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success
The key is not to write mindlessly but to pay attention to grammar and spelling as well. By mastering the basic rules of the English language, you can build a framework that will help your career for the decades to come.
It’s true that finding time to practice every day is not easy, but it doesn’t have to be boring. Try keeping a diary to share your deepest thoughts or maintaining a review blog of your favourite past time: TV, books, casinos, etc.
It’s never too early to prepare for a career in journalism so make sure to take all the classes you can to help you. Whether it would be college preparation course, toastmasters meeting and school club. If you get chance to write for a student newspaper, use this opportunity to learn the ropes and make mistakes without big consequences, a sandbox if you will.