By Brendan Clementz

For my last article at Bellbrook High School, I’ve decided to go offbeat and write about my experiences in Journalism and what I’ve learned while in it. I’ve found these lessons important in both the practice of article-writing and life in general.

One of the first lessons I learned in Journalism was the unfortunate truth that sometimes you have to write what you don’t think you want to write, at least at first. The wind isn’t always blowing your way and giving engaging ideas you’d love to write about, which can be frustrating at times. Like our district communications director Mr. Conte once said, “Sometimes you’ll have to do crap you don’t like.” The most important part of this process is to start writing. Even if you’re not interested in what you’re doing, you still need to do it. While you go along, you may come up with a new topic to cover as well. This is reflective of life. Even if you’re not confident in your direction, you need to persist. 

Another point of advice: mix things up. What you’re comfortable with doing isn’t necessarily what you’d love to do most. Trying other things in your short-term and long-term life will not only be more enjoyable overall, but will open you up to new ideas of how you go about what you already know, and give yourself fresh perspective. When starting Journalism, I stuck to two subjects in particular, Current Events and Arts & Entertainment, and didn’t deviate from that until this year. However, once I did, I found myself doing things I’d never done before, writing about more involved subjects and learning more about interviewing. Even small things, like ordering something new at a restaurant instead of a time-worn classic, can have long-lasting effects on your abilities to adapt to change and stay flexible. 

Now, the one piece of advice I, of all people, know too well: get things done when you can. I’m not saying to rush things, but it’s important to make sure you give something time by starting it early and working on it over time. I’ve definitely fallen prey to this before with procrastination, thinking that something won’t be so difficult to do later, then reaping what I sow, having to stay up late to do things and having no time for anything else for a full day. Avoiding that is simple as long as you start early and keep working on things as you go. It’s good to take time on things, but that doesn’t mean taking time to start them, because it’s only going to hurt later. 

My last point of advice is to embrace the accidents. Things don’t always go as planned when planning out an article, or in making plans in general. Sometimes people can’t do interviews, or you hit a roadblock in your writing. Trying to correct these things by taking the same approach is less likely to work out. How you react to obstacles is incredibly important. Maybe you change your approach to the goal, or even change your method entirely, like starting an article on something brand-new when it isn’t working out. Whatever the case, don’t feel daunted by having to try again.