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Article: Day in The Life: Senior Editor at a Major Weekly News Magazine

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Day in The Life: Senior Editor at a Major Weekly News Magazine

I work out of a domestic bureau office, so I don't have a boss or a supervisor. In terms of an editorial staff, there is myself and maybe five other writers, a business writer, and a photo editor. My schedule really varies week to week and month to month. It's always kind of like learning something new.

I get in around 10 a.m.
I read the papers, check e-mails, drink my coffee. I put a lot of pressure on myself to know what's going on in all aspects of the world because I don't have a specific beat. I read really fast. I read the online sites of some of the major publications to get a broad overview of what's going on. I'm basically a content addict - I read anything and everything.

Mid-morning:
I have four or five sources to call. I do a lot of phone interviews. A lot of it is person to person contact - tracking people down. Learning enough about them to interview them. I'll interview anyone from CEOs of corporations to criminals. I also have about five or six articles I'm working on. I spend a lot of time reading clips and primary source material, then taking notes on it for my articles. I'm fortunate that I don't have a specific beat; I don't want to tie myself down to any specific thing at this point.

Story-time Afternoons:
In terms of writing, it varies. Sometimes it's spot news, which I do in a very short time. The smallest story I do is a one column - those are things you can pound out in a day. A cover story might take anywhere from four weeks to three months. I do dozens and dozens of interviews (for a cover story) for about 4,000 words. It's really gathering a bunch of information.

A one-to-two page story is typical. I like to spend a week on them. When you put more effort into it, it really shows up on the page.

~ Deadlines:
I'm definitely a procrastinator. I work better under pressure. I become obsessed with the topic.

I have to handle many kinds of stories at once. If I have a long-term cover project, I try to dedicate an hour a day to it.  My favorite way of working is having one story. In terms of deadline pressure, I was much more concerned when I first started out here. I spent all this time worrying about it. Deadlines aren't really a problem for me. I put pressure on myself more than anything else.

Travel Writing:
I love to travel. I'm usually traveling (on business) about a quarter of the time. I travel on weekends a lot. I was gone last month for a lot of the month. When you travel you live your story and hang out with your sources. Once, I was out on a treasure hunt in North Carolina; that was a job that was fun! You can only be one person, but by being a journalist or writer you can really get a taste of other people's lives. How they deal with situations that I face. I'm addicted to stories. You realize that there's stories going on all the time. Being a writer is a way to attack those and be involved.

Wrapping it up:
I work typically ten hours a day. There are times when I spend less, and times when I spend more. There have been times I've been here until one (in the morning). The job is never done. I have a little home office, and I'm sure I'll go home tonight and do some reading. There's a personal element to my reading, but that's where my story ideas come from. When I'm at home reading, that's when the lights go on in my head. I do a lot of writing in the evening, when it's quiet.

The Future Tense:
Three years ago, I never really thought about the future. I definitely see myself doing some books - probably nonfiction, maybe some feature writing, or screenwriting. Who knows - I don't give it too much thought. When I was a little kid, I always wanted to be a writer - I always wanted to be a novelist.