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Dec. 19, 2004 Since the inception of the personal computer, thousands and thousands of people all over the globe have become writers. They pour out their hearts, souls and opinions into cyberspace, many, on a daily basis. They are rewarded for their efforts with tons and tons of responses from their admirers as well as detractors and I envy them. They are artists! They paint a portrait of their lives. In fact, many of them have carved out successful careers for themselves as creative writers and I envy them even more. I’ve tried to be a creative writer and can’t cut it. I’m strictly a 5 W’s person - Who, What, Where, Why, When, sometimes How. I consider myself to be a Journalist and spent four years in college studying the craft. The first two in American River College in Sacramento learning how to write, interview and edit. It was a wonderful experience as managing editor of the weekly newspaper and editor of the semester magazine at the same time during my second year at ARC. I had a ball! I knew just about everyone on campus and they knew me. I won awards and got my first writing job as the campus stringer for the Sacramento Bee. br> Armed with my AA Degree, I went out into the world as a writer: Public relations assistant for the local United Way Agency; magazine editor for a state nursing home association; and several freelancing jobs along the way. Several years later I decided to back to college to get my BA Degree. By that time I was almost 50 years of age and determined to finish the education I had begun. This time, in addition to classes and some writing, I went to the back shop to learn how to put the paper together. There was no glory in the back shop. In fact, very few journalism students even bothered to step inside the building other than to drop off copy. We were considered to be oddballs by the rest of the J-class. The amount work involved was not worth the effort - one unit of credit per semester. This was in the 60’s, the early days of offset publishing, before every reporter in practically every newsroom in the country had his/her own computer to set copy from their desks. We had one typesetter, a paid employee of the college, who set all the copy. We set heads on the headliner, ran the long strings of copy through the paste machine, cut it into columns with Exacto knives – I carried one in my purse - pasted up the copy and did all of the layout. The artwork was cut out and pasted from the ad-art books we got from the printer. Most of us spent some time every day in the back shop getting things ready for deadline day. During my first year we put out one paper a week on Fridays. When I left we were publishing on Wednesdays and Fridays. It was tedious work. By the time we got the paper to bed, ready to be taken to the printers, it was sometimes one or two in the morning before the lights went out in the building. One rule of thumb within our close- knit team was that females were escorted across campus to their parked cars when we worked past ten pm. I would go home on deadline nights exhausted, with an aching back, covered with scraps of paste up paper and black line tape. Was it worth it? When I graduated from CSU-Sacramento in January 1974, I was able to publish my own paper and did several years later. Nowadays, every publisher, even at the college level, has a graphic arts department where the design and layout work are done by professionals or professionals-to-be. The J- student back shop days are long gone but I’m proud I was able to be a part of the early days of offset publishing. It was where Bobbie Hart O’Neill found her groove! ------------ About the author: Bobbie Hart O'Neill is a retired print media journalist, CSU-Sacramento, 74, with 40 years experience in the field. She has worked as a reporter, feature writer, columnist, public relations writer, magazine/newsletter editor and publisher. She is currently a freelance writer residing in Yuma, Arizona and has published a childrens book, written three screenplays and a novel. In addition, she is interested in civic affairs, politics, current events, ethnology and animals. Visit her blog. Also visit In The Name Of Honor - Mystery/Suspense Novel http://www.anotherchapter.com and Billy's Jungle Adventure - Children's Book/Animals www.lulu.com or email Bobbie: bobbieo@digitaldune.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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