Sports page designer/reporter, Martinsville, Va.

Judging upon the reviews I read on her, I'm happy to hear that. Especially considering I've heard nothing optimistic.

 

Wait a minute. To the real Martinsville experts, there is a SE AND a writer?

I always thought it was a one-man shop, for some reason.

 

TWO writers. It's a three-man army.

Area's depressing as shit, the ACC is tantilizingly close but you'll never cover it, and you won't ever get to leave Henry County, even if your one remaining team travels for the playoffs. COL is pretty low, and at least you're reasonably close to moderately-sized areas like the Piedmont Triad and Roanoke, but I know people with horror stories about unpaid OT, horrible leadership and dismal working conditions, and unless something dramatic has happened in the last year or so, you'll probably be a good candidate for more.

And I was told by multiple sources that one of the people who SE'd there was run out in part because he wanted to redesign the section, and they didn't approve of anything that broke from their incredibly ugly layout -- even though they told him the section was his and he could make design changes when they brought him on.

Caveat emperor, as always.

 

Bingo.

 

One theme I get from the jobs board is to avoid any job posing that has a question leed.

Or ones that start with, "Get paid to watch sports."

 

No need to mention her name. She's still there. As I said in an earlier post, nothing has changed.

 

You mean lede. But you're also fencing yourself in. That's like saying you can't write a lede that's more than 25 words (an old Gannett proverb) or start a sentence with "And" or "But." Too limiting.

 

That's funny and reminds me of my collegiate paper. The EIC and ME praised the book as if it was their Bible. If our ledes were over 30 words, we had to story given back to us and told to make it shorter or it wouldn't go in the paper.

 

"unpaid OT, horrible leadership and dismal working conditions"

Huh. Sounds like a newspaper job.

 

My copy editor has been wanting to string me up by my toes this week. Can't type for shit. I know what a lede is and how to spell it. I was just making a sweeping generalization on the question lede (though they do annoy the hell out of me). Two minutes later I saw the Bristol ad, which led with a question, and I've always liked that paper. And I'm not one that's afraid to start a sentence with an article.


I do stand behind by cautionary tale of those ads that start with, "Get paid to watch sports."

 

Famous last words.

I was there only a year ago. Thankfully I had good advice from a few people much older and wiser than I. You may feel desperate now, but you'll only feel worse after jumping into a shitty job and wasting a good six months-year of your life while treading water as far as career advancement. Three weeks isn't squat in the big scheme of things. Hell, three-months isn't squat compared to the rest of your life.

 

goplay, where did you go after Martinsville?