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My eyes flung open Thursday morning at the sound of my alarm going off. It's Thursday! I thought excitedly. This week's Chronicle will be delivered to the houses of our readers today, and I was proud of the reporting I did that past week and anxious to hear feedback from the community.
I jumped in the shower, brushed my teeth, put on something presentable and out the door I went. I swung into Kwik Trip for a hot chocolate. And although I really craved a coffee (as all journalists do), I gave the delicious beverage for Lent.
It's only 40 days, Brooke. You'll be fine.
I arrived at The Dodgeville Chronicle and before I even punched in to begin the work day, I walked out to the front office to help a customer that had walked in at almost the exact same time. He wanted to put a classified ad in the newspaper, advertising a piece of equipment he was selling.
They say newspapers are dead - but they obviously aren't to this gentlemen, who decided to run the classified advertisement for two weeks - for a mere $12 and odd cents.
I returned to my desk, littered with papers, sticky notes, notebooks - all organized enough so that I know exactly where everything is (most of the time). I opened my email up and began going through them.
The Barneveld Lutheran Church had something to add to their Church News listing.
The Eden Presbyterian Cemetery Association wanted to submit a blurb about their upcoming meeting in our free Update section.
Lily Bragg with Cowboy Country Church in Mineral Point wanted to run a couple ads for their Financial Peace University class.
A press release from the Driftless Area Land Conservancy announced a national recognition.
I skimmed through other newsworthy emails, deleting ones I didn't need and archiving the ones I needed to go back and look into more.
One of my bosses, Mike Reilly, and I talked about big news coming to the Hometown Pharmacy just down the street from the Chronicle office. And no more than a few minutes after, pharmacist Larry Crowley was here explaining the benefits this big news could bring to Dodgeville and Iowa County as a whole. (More on that in an upcoming edition).
After jotting down some notes, I finished my hot chocolate. Glancing up at the clock, it was already 11:30! And of course, I had somewhere to be.
I headed over to Mineral Point to meet the new executive director of Pendarvis. I had agreed to cover this luncheon meeting for Sara Lomaz Flesch, our Democrat Tribune editor, who was unable to attend. Coming into Mineral Point on Shake Rag, I waved to a woman who was walking - and she waved right back. Gotta love the people in these communities; they are one of the main reasons I love my job as a journalist.
I parked in front of the Pendarvis Education Center, slinging my camera over my right shoulder and my notebook under my left arm. I left my cell phone in the car - this meeting was my only focus for the next few hours.
The minute I stepped into the education center, I was greeted immediately by people who wanted to introduce themselves. I shook many hands, those who I was meeting for the first time and those who have I had the pleasure of meeting before.
Interestingly, I had been conversing with Diane Stuart of the Mineral Point Historical Society via email for a few months, and we finally had the chance to connect face-to-face that afternoon! Other history-minded folks had been invited to the meeting too, and after Brian Thompson, our region's administrator of historic sites owned and operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society, began to speak, I could tell exactly why.
Brian shared some very exciting news for Pendarvis, Mineral Point and possibly the entire area. I listened with curiosity and jotted down everything I could. He smiled and promised me I'd get the first tour when the new effects begin to unfold.
Once I got back to Dodgeville, I found time to eat lunch quickly, in between adding copy to our website and spending some time adding content to our Facebook page.
Later, I joined my colleagues for our weekly Thursday afternoon editorial staff meeting, where we go over what we're all doing for next week and plan out what needs to be covered. The meetings are also a good way to share ideas and feedback, and plan for future articles and advertising too.
We discussed front page articles and art for both The Dodgeville Chronicle and Democrat Tribune, events that are going on this weekend, people to reach out to in the future, who this week's Spotlight will be on and shared thoughts on the recent Wisconsin Newspaper Association convention we attended. The meeting wrapped up around 4:30 p.m., and I spent the last half hour at my desk, going through the emails that had amassed while I was out and about earlier that day.
Truth is, it would be easy and convenient to sit behind my computer's keyboard for eight hours every day, waiting for the news to come to me. But that's not how journalism works. And it's not what a journalist does. It's not what I do.
I closed my email down at quarter after 5, shut the lights off in my office and punched my time card. Tomorrow is Friday, with new leads to follow up on, new people to meet and new stories to hear and tell.