Soft skills for the new journalist : cultivating the inner resources you need to succeed / Colleen Steffen.

Includes index.

A is for attitude -- I went to college with an electric typewriter, and other cautionary tales -- Finally we get to the important stuff -- So something shiny caught your eye -- Working on your pitch (not the sports kind, sorry) -- Editors have the worst ideas -- Hi, stranger! the in-person approach -- Can't I just email??? -- The shy person's guide to not dying inside while on assignments -- Not everyone is going to like you (unreasonable but true) -- All about sources -- Take a flying (imaginative) leap -- The all-important nutgraf -- So, I'm supposed to say what to this person? -- Ok! finally! interviewing! -- Journalism magic: it's a thing! -- Or maybe just shut up for a minute -- Don't rush off to lunch just yet -- Yes, you still need a notebook -- Don't be a banker -- Get in shape -- To outline or not to outline -- "I hate writing; I love having written." Dorothy Parker -- But also, try this to love writing a little more -- Get your crap together -- How to tell when you're done -- A word about grammar -- Developing a journalist's conscience -- The day after -- Speaking of what other people think -- You did it! You're done! -- WWNBD? (What would Nellie Bly do?) -- Keep your head in the game -- I believe in you! Goodbye!.

"Journalism is a pool staffed by distracted lifeguards and no matter how fancy your school is, your first week in a real newsroom will feel like a shove in the small of the back into 15 feet of water. Most of us come up for air eventually, but if you're like journalist and educator Colleen Steffen, you may still be left feeling like all that training in inverted pyramids and question lists left something important out. What's left out is you. Journalism is people managing, wrestling truth and story out of the messy, confusing raw material that is a human being, and the messiest human involved can often be the reporter themselves. It's time to talk about it. Instead of nervously skirting the sizable EQ (emotional intelligence) portion of this IQ (intelligence quotient) enterprise, Soft Skills for the New Journalist explores how it FEELS to do this strange, hard, amazing job--and how to use those feelings to better your work and yourself"-- Provided by publisher.