How My Writing Has Been Influenced By Newsrooms

I spent the early part of my 20s as a small-town journalist in the wide open plains of southeastern Montana. How my writing has been influenced by the newsroom:

1. You need a story - who what when where why?
2. Don’t bury the main point - most people stop reading after 3 seconds anyway
3. You need life experiences to write about - Go out into the community to find stories
4. Repetition - sharp newspaper deadlines every day improved my writing through repetition. Daily repetition in any endeavor is key. I also kept a daily journal during this time, which I recommend. That journal eventually turned into My Montana Map: A Journalist’s Memoir in the Treasure State, which I self-published in February.