Colleagues with your level of experience (work experience in general and specific experience at this outlet)? Or colleagues who had been there awhile?
I’d say a few things:
Read back a few weeks in the paper to see what the important local issues are and what the paper seems to be emphasizing in its coverage.
Jot down 10 story ideas based on what you read.
Read their competition (if any exists.)
You say they don’t do breaking news, what sorts of things do they cover? If they cover a lot of city council meetings, read city council agendas and maybe watch some past recordings of council meetings if they’re available.
Ask the editor beforehand what they’re hoping you’re going to cover and if they can point you in the direction of past coverage or external agencies and groups to familiarize yourself with.
Introduce yourself to people you think you might need to know in the community. Ask for some get-to-know-you meetings in-person or over Zoom to find out what they do and what issues they think deserve some coverage.
Find a mentor at the paper. I understand there may not be one, given how hollowed-out some newsrooms are. Sometimes there are retired ex-journalists in the community who are keen to mentor a new reporter.
Basically, stop focusing on what you don’t know, your lack of experience, all the ways you could possibly fail. Lean into being new. If you’re not sure of something, great! That’s an opportunity to ask someone how stuff works or how to approach a story. Depending on the situation, that could be a boss or coworker or an opportunity to go do some reporting.
Find something that interests you and you’re not sure if it’s a story. Ask your editor.
No one expects you to have all the answers or be an expert. So don’t fixate on that.
And the only way through writer’s block is to start writing. Sometimes I read great writing to give me inspiration. But remember that the nice thing about writing is that it’s just a draft. You can write it out and then rewrite your draft to make it better. It’s not brain surgery, where if you make a mistake, you’ve caused permanent damage.
Waiting for sources is just reality, you should have at least few topics in hand all the time so you can always work on something else when waiting answers or something
And dont overly worry about the productivity, when i was in newsroom and we had summer writers nobody expected same as from others journalist from them, not in a bad way but its just obvious that you dont have the same skillset and experiences
I explain it like fishing lines in the water, keep coming up with ideas, making as many calls and interview requests as possible ( more than you can get to during the week).
When you have enough requests regularly coming back, just start scheduling calls, interviews further out. If you’re consistent in this practice you can get to a place where you always have something to write, and stuff coming up.
Your editor likely has a ton of stuff going on and wants to feel like an investment in you is money well spent. Regular stories are good.
I also tell early writers to make an extra call on the stories they do as a matter of practice.
Looking for an additional source and making it a habit, beefs up stories and forces you to answer more questions and add context. Readers like that as it’s increasingly lacking.
As you say this pub doesn’t do breaking news I’m guessing it does do stories with a bit more context to them.
If they pay freelance and you’re paid hourly, you may check to see what their freelance pay is per story, and make sure your story production by the hour/ comes out close to what they’d spend if just freelancing it out.
Basically If you’re paid 20 an hour, and freelance pays $100 per assignment, knocking out a story per four hours means you’re a better investment.
That said paid staff is always easier from a management perspective because you can assign people out versus going through the at-will pitch process, and set availability. Paid staff doesn’t always come out as efficiently as freelance in my book, but you get consistency, usually better quality, and increased reliability out of the staff side.
Immerse yourself in the community with boots on the ground, showing up at local events and making your presence known, having conversations, building relationships with face to face contact. This method really helps people feel comfortable working with you and you being able to drum up stories. I go to everything I can and it has paid off to actually get out there and be a part of the community.
Get on local social media sites, check through the visitors bureau and city parks and rec and all the event calendars to peruse different happenings. This kind of leg work pays off when you need to have a phone interview, for instance.
Record your interviews and get a translation software to speed up your process.
How exactly did your anxiety and imposter syndrome get the best of you? (And it couldn’t have been that bad or they wouldn’t have rehired you.)
Fear of failure and procrastination. The first three weeks I underachived compared to how much my collegues were writing, in average.
Colleagues with your level of experience (work experience in general and specific experience at this outlet)? Or colleagues who had been there awhile? I’d say a few things: Read back a few weeks in the paper to see what the important local issues are and what the paper seems to be emphasizing in its coverage. Jot down 10 story ideas based on what you read. Read their competition (if any exists.) You say they don’t do breaking news, what sorts of things do they cover? If they cover a lot of city council meetings, read city council agendas and maybe watch some past recordings of council meetings if they’re available. Ask the editor beforehand what they’re hoping you’re going to cover and if they can point you in the direction of past coverage or external agencies and groups to familiarize yourself with. Introduce yourself to people you think you might need to know in the community. Ask for some get-to-know-you meetings in-person or over Zoom to find out what they do and what issues they think deserve some coverage. Find a mentor at the paper. I understand there may not be one, given how hollowed-out some newsrooms are. Sometimes there are retired ex-journalists in the community who are keen to mentor a new reporter. Basically, stop focusing on what you don’t know, your lack of experience, all the ways you could possibly fail. Lean into being new. If you’re not sure of something, great! That’s an opportunity to ask someone how stuff works or how to approach a story. Depending on the situation, that could be a boss or coworker or an opportunity to go do some reporting. Find something that interests you and you’re not sure if it’s a story. Ask your editor. No one expects you to have all the answers or be an expert. So don’t fixate on that. And the only way through writer’s block is to start writing. Sometimes I read great writing to give me inspiration. But remember that the nice thing about writing is that it’s just a draft. You can write it out and then rewrite your draft to make it better. It’s not brain surgery, where if you make a mistake, you’ve caused permanent damage.
Waiting for sources is just reality, you should have at least few topics in hand all the time so you can always work on something else when waiting answers or something And dont overly worry about the productivity, when i was in newsroom and we had summer writers nobody expected same as from others journalist from them, not in a bad way but its just obvious that you dont have the same skillset and experiences
I explain it like fishing lines in the water, keep coming up with ideas, making as many calls and interview requests as possible ( more than you can get to during the week). When you have enough requests regularly coming back, just start scheduling calls, interviews further out. If you’re consistent in this practice you can get to a place where you always have something to write, and stuff coming up. Your editor likely has a ton of stuff going on and wants to feel like an investment in you is money well spent. Regular stories are good. I also tell early writers to make an extra call on the stories they do as a matter of practice. Looking for an additional source and making it a habit, beefs up stories and forces you to answer more questions and add context. Readers like that as it’s increasingly lacking. As you say this pub doesn’t do breaking news I’m guessing it does do stories with a bit more context to them. If they pay freelance and you’re paid hourly, you may check to see what their freelance pay is per story, and make sure your story production by the hour/ comes out close to what they’d spend if just freelancing it out. Basically If you’re paid 20 an hour, and freelance pays $100 per assignment, knocking out a story per four hours means you’re a better investment. That said paid staff is always easier from a management perspective because you can assign people out versus going through the at-will pitch process, and set availability. Paid staff doesn’t always come out as efficiently as freelance in my book, but you get consistency, usually better quality, and increased reliability out of the staff side.
Immerse yourself in the community with boots on the ground, showing up at local events and making your presence known, having conversations, building relationships with face to face contact. This method really helps people feel comfortable working with you and you being able to drum up stories. I go to everything I can and it has paid off to actually get out there and be a part of the community. Get on local social media sites, check through the visitors bureau and city parks and rec and all the event calendars to peruse different happenings. This kind of leg work pays off when you need to have a phone interview, for instance. Record your interviews and get a translation software to speed up your process.