Lessons

If you had told me a year ago that I would be moving to a town with the name "farm" in it I would have laughed. Or scoffed. Or snapped.

But I'll be there in a week.

Here are some things I've learned at my current job

1) It is more important that you produce copy than it is to be creative and a good writer. At first, this sounds negative and lame. But it makes sense. A newspaper comes out every day so the reporter who can crap out a mediocre story every day, becomes over time, a much more valuable asset than the reporter who is a very good writer but takes forever, misses deadlines and spends more time stressing over "the perfect sentence" than turning something in. As Chris put it, "An editor can work with mediocre copy. But the copy has to be there." Of course, if you are a good writer that consistently churns out stellar copy that's even better. Such a person did not exist at my paper. Most reporters leaned towards one end of the spectrum or the other.

2) If you're not at the New York Times (and maybe even if you are) swallow your huge ass ego or risk butting heads with co-workers and going home in tears of frustration. And you will be miserable and always feel like you're losing. There are a lot of young reporters at my current newspaper, all eager to prove themselves. But I can think of one or two that are ambitious and power hungry or out for awards and compliments. In the interest of full disclosure I have to admit I sometimes feel that way: Consumed by jealousy and viewing my co-workers as competition instead of team members. Case in point: I had to help the "new" cops reporter by taking her to the police station and answering her questions. She did fine. Better than expected. And part of me hated her for that. Fortunately I think I did a good job of beating my ego down. I hope she does better than I did and surprises everyone.