Seeing red marks.

I finished the incredibly rough draft of my very first article for the Wrangler Gazette. My story on the wetlands has been a bumpy start to the beginning of the school year.

And for the record, my article at this very moment is what I would consider awesome if it wasn‘t for the AP style. Apparently, there are a lot more rules in Mr. Burd’s bible to journalism than I thought. I'm used to seeing red marks scribbled all over something I’ve written out roughly, but still, it kind of bites the big one. Though I guess I should get used to it. You see, since the fifth grade, I have wanted to make writing my career, whether I work as a journalist or in a publishing house. Preferably, I'd rather see my own creations pressed, bound, and sitting on the shelves collecting dust. Unfortunately not many literary agents take a teenager’s writing seriously, or expect it to be any good, so I might just have to wait a while to become a published author.

Anyways, I had a point in writing this entry. Like I was saying, my article is more on the creative writing style to my dismay, or at least the beginning and the end are, so that isn’t too bad. It should be a quick fix…I hope. AP styled writing is not really my thing, not yet at least. I’m hoping that by the time the deadline for the next article rolls around, my brain will have grasped that there is a time to be creative and then there’s a time to just state the facts. But, breaking old habits is hard, so I’ll just apologize now to our copy editor, Lucy, for the upcoming battle with my style of writing. And I promise to work on my AP style.


Shayna Innocenti
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz.