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What I Learned in Pitching Practice

I just turned in my final assignment in my Pitching Practice class. As part of our weekly check-in, I thought about what I had learned in the course and what I still need to work on. This bit of self-reflection sent me down a path where I assessed the writing lessons I have learned.

I’ve learned a lot from the books I have read and the classes I have taken. One example stuck out. Back in college, all pre-journalism majors dreaded J201: Information Gathering. We heard the horror stories of the 100-page paper we would have to write for the course lovingly dubbed Info Hell. But the course was required for entrance into the journalism program, so we all did it. And it was a crazy paper.

It was actually 120 pages:

10 pages of introduction about our topic and the type of research we planned to do
50 two-page annotated sources, including a certain number of books, personal interviews, government documents, and other specific types of sources
10 pages describing what you learned from your research and how you would use it to write your article

I realized yesterday morning that it was a drawn-out query process, and the lessons I learned in Christina Katz’s class built on what I learned from that paper. Of course, with the changes in teaching staff that have occurred since I was in college, the class sounds much easier–fewer annotated sources, fewer completed pages, less hell. I am sure that it still teaches the lessons it needs to teach, but it isn’t the same bonding experience we early 90s UO journalism majors remember. No matter how little we knew each other or which track we took through the program after our pre-major core, we all knew that we belonged because we made it through Info Hell.

It was nice to be able to see how all of the work I have done over these years is coming together. I’ve got a couple great pitches ready to send out, some good pitches ready to be revised, and some good ideas that could develop into great articles.

What about you? How have you seen your lessons build on each other? How has specific training helped you make important connections that have furthered your career? And what do you still need to work on?