Funny, but I can partially believe it. Some of us journalists are secretly shy but our need to write about things or expose them forces us to take up the profession. Even though I was a full-time reporter for five years, I often secretly hesitated before having to call people or ask questions. I remember the first time I had to ask questions of random people. I was in eighth grade when I took a summer journalism workshop (yes, I know it's nerdy) at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, NJ. Our task was to put together a newspaper over two weeks and give it out at Sandy Hook beach. There were some great kids in that workshop - I wonder what they're doing today. Anyway, we had to write stories about the beach, and my assignment was to interview the toll collectors. I knew that I should get a few comments about the tolls by walking up to random beach-goers, too, and that I could get away without doing it but that it would probably strengthen the story if I did it. I remember saying to myself, "Well, if you choose to be a reporter someday, this is what you're going to have to do." So I made myself walk up to strangers on the beach and asked them how they felt about the beach tolls, and they were very nice. (It would take a hardhearted person to be mean to a shy 14-year-old with a notebook.) I still call people all day and do things in public like have book readings and co-host trivia, but it doesn't mean I don't sometimes have to force myself.
In the past week, one person has complained about the repetition in this blog, and another said it would be funnier if it was only "Woke up, got dressed..." every single day, which it actually used to be. The reason I don't do a full-fledged blog is that I'm doing too much other creative writing I don't want to take away from, and if I have an idea I want to use in a future book, I don't want to spoil it by putting it in more raw form here. But I may sometimes want to talk here anyway.
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