I signed up for the News Journalism class this year just because I thought it would be a class I would be able to relax in, get a credit, and put out some fun work. While that is true and the class is a lot of fun, you have to have a want. That might be a confusing and extremely broad statement, however what I mean by that is you have to have a desire to create something for others.

In this class we have brainstorming sessions each month when the group bounces ideas off of each other in order to get stories for that specific month. Sometimes these ideas are things you would love to write about and things you already know a lot about, and some are things that you have barley even heard about and wouldn’t even know when to start on the story. For instance, this year late night talk shows made their return and I knew I wanted to write about it immediately, why? Because it is a dream of mine to be a writer somewhere big and the reason late night talk shows were gone for so long was because if the writers strike and writers not getting the credit they deserve. So I jumped on that story right away and wrote it within a day with excitement. But there were some stories on didn’t jump on as quickly. But, let me start by saying I loved all of the stories I wrote this year but I just didn’t love some as much as others. My Chipotle review story for the new Chipotle location in Waukee wasn’t one I jumped on immediately, I won’t lie I was super busy at the time and with lack of motivation, plus inexperience with reviewing things made me put it off until closer to deadline. But the thing that made me want to put out the story in the end was my want to give people an insight before they go spend money at this place.

If nothing else, if you don’t think about the specific writing forms, or the grammar, or photo captions, or getting a mic to sound right, the biggest thing I learned this year was that writers need one thing to truly make and put out great work. A want. You could be perfect on grammar and spelling and the format of your story but if you don’t care or want to put out good information for your community and the people around you, the story will lack. So while things in this class are fun and no two days are the same, you have to have a want, a want to produce great media, a want to make people laugh, a want to do your best on camera or on a keyboard. This year has taught me a lot and grown my writing skills to another level which I will always be grateful for in my future.