What to do and what not to do as a PRO or freelancer

As a journalist for a local paper, I do an awful lot of interviews on a daily and weekly basis, but equally, a big part of my job is editing and rewriting other people's notes and articles.

Depending on the style, ability and tone of the writer, it can sometimes (quite often let’s be honest) take longer to edit and rewrite someone's 800 words down to a more readable and newspaper friendly 200 than it would take to talk to them, do the interview and write it from scratch. 

On that note, I have decided to pull together some of the mistakes I see most frequently and put some tips out there for people who are interested in writing, anyone considering journalism who is trying to get a portfolio of published works together and Public Relations Officers who are trying to publicise the news for their club or organisation.

WHAT TO DO

- Be formal, professional and polite – I think people make the mistake of thinking of an email like a text, whereas it is in fact the very same as a letter and should be just as official in tone and style. 

- If there is a deadline, be smart about it and get it in as early as you can, if the paper hits the shelves on Thursday mornings (as The Avondhu does), then get your piece in on Thursday or Friday and that way you will know that it hasn't been lost among the thousands of emails that are coming in in the eleventh hour. As well as that, the staff have just put the paper out and rather than being stressed and pushed to their limit, they will be able to give more time to your piece and it could serve you better than if you send it on Tuesday. 

- Respect the decisions and advice from the people in charge of editing the publication. If you send something into your local paper and they use it, they are doing you a favour and that needs to be recognised. Your story is one of many and you need to realise that it may not be relevant or newsy enough to go at the very front of the paper, where you might think it belongs. 

- The journalist and editor probably are not experts in whatever area you are talking about, so be clear, concise and do not go on for too long - in many cases less is more and if something catches the editor's or journalist's eye, they can always ring you or email you for further information.

- If the article relates to an event or fundraiser coming up, please give advance notice and also if you want to secure your place in the paper, the only way to do so is to submit the article in tandem with advertising, as advertising is the paper's main revenue stream and takes priority most of the time.

- If you wish to confirm that an email was received, please say so in the email rather than ringing the office five minutes later, as the recipient might not have read it yet and if they have, they won't have spotted any potential gaps in that time, whereas if they can email back in their own good time, they will have had time to hone in on any holes in the story.

- When sending pictures, label them with a reference number or keyword and put the captions (full names, the event details and the photographer if necessary) into the email beside the reference number so that they can be captioned easily. If there are less than ten people in the picture, please provide full names for everyone, going from left to right starting at the back and graduating towards the front. It is also vital to ensure that the picture is of good enough quality, because pictures of poor quality are generally not reproduced by papers, as it compromises their own integrity. 

- Always proof read your articles and be sure to check for spelling, grammar, dates and accuracy of details, as well as quoting someone where possible to bring in more of what people will relate to. 

- If writing is not your strong point and you are likely to fret over format and style, instead check if you can email in bullet points and a quote and often the journalist will use this as their base and simply write the story around the material you have provided, rather than presenting them with something poorly written and convoluted, which will be harder to edit.

- In case anything needs to be clarified, always include your phone number and a time you are available to talk, if applicable in the email for any potential follow ups. 

WHAT NOT TO DO

-There is almost nothing worse than someone you don't know very well or maybe haven't even met beyond their .com or .ie email address, feigning a closeness that is not there and getting too personal, calling you 'hun', 'pet' or 'dear' or cringe cringe putting kisses in an email (my boyfriend just about gets kisses and that is really dependant on my mood). 

- If a deadline is Tuesday at 12 noon, do not send in your notes or article five minutes before that deadline. 

- Do not push demands on people or be presumptuous about how important your story is or where it should go in the paper (that is the journalist's and editor's job and just like we wouldn't come in and tell you how to do your job, please show us the same respect).

- In the paper I work for, there are a number of email addresses as there are in most businesses and many people have the misconceived notion that if they send it into five addresses that it will go into the paper in five different places, whereas the opposite is far more likely to happen. If a piece is sent to everyone, it will be more likely that wires will be crossed and it won't go in at all, because someone has presumed that someone else has done it.

Finally, if your information goes into the paper or onto the website, take the time to say thank you to the person you were dealing with. Most newspapers and journalists will only hear from the public if there is something wrong, so it’s nice to get a phonecall or email with positive feedback from time to time.

Don't just point and shoot - some basic photography tips and hints

When I finished my MA in Journalism more than five years ago and set off enthusiastically into my first job in The Evening Echo in Cork (Ireland), I was lucky to be going into a job that matched my training (and some), but since then every single job has brought with it more duties and extended roles.

Now, instead of being the journalist and features writer, I am in The Avondhu in Mitchelstown where I source and write the stories, decide where they will go in the paper, secure advertising if appropriate, take pictures, sub-edit, proof read and I also liaise with clients and customers to build professional relationships.

One of the biggest shocks of the extra duties that I was given when I first came to The Avondhu almost four years ago was that I was handed a very professional and daunting look camera and after I was given some perfunctory tips, it was a case of point, shoot and make sure you get people's names for captions.

When I look back on my first pictures, I don't cringe, but I do say a silent 'thank God' that my writing was good enough to prop up my very poor photography skills.

One of the main problems was that I was a trained journalist, but I also had to take photographs - now I still consider myself a journalist first and a photographer second, but I love taking pictures now and I truly appreciate what they can add to my stories.

My interest in photography has developed so much that I will now catch myself saying things like 'hold on, let me get my phone' so that I can freeze a perfect moment in time or capture that once in a lifetime flicker of an eye.

In light of all of this and to get to my point, I thought I would share a few tips that might help people, who like me had to take on something like this without any formal training or for people who want to use pictures to enhance their own writing and works.

TIPS AND HINTS;
- When taking scenery shots, use the third rule, which gives the image nice symmetry and makes it more aesthetically pleasing. Basically, make sure that each element takes up a third of the shot.

- If you are taking a picture of between one and four people, take it like a portrait and go full length, but make sure that the background is quite plain or that it enhances the picture (a nice scenic view or a blank canvas like a wooden door or painted wall all work well as backdrops and that is worth remembering - it is a backdrop, so don't let the scenery out do the subjects), otherwise take it landscape and just take in their head, shoulders and a little bit of upper body.

- For larger group pictures, avoid pictures that have everyone in the same position looking quite static and almost bored. Instead, make it more interesting by getting them to form a semi-circle or soften the shot by getting the people at each end to turn in slightly towards the others.

- To capture a relaxed and natural picture, tell a joke first and get them to relax - if you can capture that natural and often goofy smile, your picture will tell its own story.

- Avoid staging pictures in front of windows, large glass doors or under bright lights, as it will distort your subjects' faces.

- For children, get them to look at the lens and tell them a little story about a fairy living in the camera - it will capture their imagination and also get them to stay still for the half a minute that you might need. A double click function also works well here, as the camera will take four or five shots for every image and it eliminates the problems of children blinking, poking each other or gazing off into the distance. If you are not doing this professionally, but only taking pictures of little cousins or nieces or nephews, it is unlikely you would have things like toys, props and other accessories that professionals would have on hand for these shoots.

- Even if you are not a naturally organised person, get into the habit of creating folders on your computer and categorise these into the year, month and event using keywords that you will later associate with the photoshoot. This will not only help with archiving, but it will also make referencing very easy. I also format my SD card each week after I have saved the pictures onto my desktop and I keep a spare card in my camera bag. On that note, I also keep a spare notebook, spare batteries for my flash and spare pens (I should keep a pencil too, as a pen won't work if I'm outside in the rain) in the bag as well.

- With a fancy and advanced camera, it is easy to get bogged down by detail and get carried away worrying about the tiny features that you will probably never need to rely on. My advice here is to get comfortable with the equipment and then just set everything to Auto and let the camera do all of the thinking until you are more savvy with it.

- Finally, please don't just point and shoot - if you do, your pictures will reflect that. Take time with the pictures and give them the effort and attention that they deserve.

How the blog seed was planted

As a young child, I was always a talker and once I could read and write, there was no stopping me, so perhaps a career in journalism was always going to be my destiny. 

Now, I know that being a journalist might not sound all that exciting or ground breaking, but you'd be surprised - you really would; in my time, I've gotten to do some pretty cool things and speak to some amazing people. 

I didn't always know that I wanted to be a writer and in school, I was equally divided between pursuing a career as a barrister or studying English, simply because I liked reading and writing. 

If I was to give any young person a bit of advice about their career choice, it would be to think about what they like and not about what will end with a job offer. 

If you are passionate enough about something, you will make a career happen, but if you choose to do something because of the wage packet, you won't be happy or fulfilled and inevitably will end up changing careers later on in life, which can be a tough adjustment. 

From my experience, it's quite alright being an intern or trainee when you're just out of college and in your twenties, but doing that and going back to that formidable 'square one' is much more daunting, when you're in your forties and have a family to support. 

I've just realised that my little tangent there was very relevant, as exam students will have submitted their CAO applications and now have until the summer to change their minds on www.cao.ie - I'm sure that career choice and course possibilities are dominating most dinner table conversations in the country at the moment and there's many a parent fretting and trying to guide their child without telling them what to do. 

Anyway, to get back to my original point, I did a degree in New Media & English in the University of Limerick and by the end of my degree, realised that I had a flair for writing and I also seemed to have a knack for honing in on a unique angle of an essay (something that has stood to me as a journalist with many the article). 

However, by the time I graduated, I still didn't really know what I wanted 'to be', so I decided to do a Masters in Journalism and figured that if I hated it, it would still be an MA under my belt and I could then go on to do a PhD, which would enable me to become an English lecturer in college. 

The MA course was good and very interesting, but an unlikely career path for me, as I was (and still am, to an extent) allergic to watching the news, I cringed at all things related to current affairs and I literally couldn't tell you anything about politics or economics. 

I was, however, very good at chatting to people, getting information on events and seemed to have a talent for making people feel at ease. 

I learned a lot from the course, but the most valuable aspects were the Media Law module and shorthand (I use this all the time and it's so natural that if I'm leaving a note in the house, I almost automatically write it in shorthand - I suppose whenever I do end up doing that, my boyfriend will have a legitimate reason for not getting dinner ready). 

Everything else was ok, but not mind blowing and I've got to say, I think my degree helped me a lot more with the writing side of things. There was also an unrealistic, almost Hollywood-esque focus on investigative journalism, which is interesting and wonderful in an ideal world, but not realistic, because most newspapers don't have the resources to let a journalist work on a big story or something huge, when they could be churning out hundreds of smaller stories in that time. 

As part of the course, I completed a month's work experience in The Evening Echo in Cork (one of the country's largest regional papers) and it was from the first day in that newsroom that I knew I had come home - I had found my place in the world and I loved it. 

From then on, I was hooked and so I used my very small window of time to my advantage, by making sure that by the time I left, I wouldn't just be another student who they forgot about immediately. 

I wanted to be the girl they thought of if a job came up, the person they thought of when a cool feature idea arose and 'the one who got away' to a degree - I didn't half have notions of myself like. 

In a way, my plan worked out and I had my first article published the week I started and boasted an impressive (if I do say so myself) portfolio of work by the end of the month. 

I then made sure that I wouldn't be disappearing into the unknown of graduates with no direction, so I kept in touch with the editors and throughout the summer, while working on my thesis, I did a few freelance articles and even managed to get two parts of my three-part thesis published in the paper.  

The following January, I was offered a nine-month internship with The Evening Echo through the JobBridge scheme (www.jobbridge.ie) and I worked from 8.30am-4.30pm, Monday-Friday for nine months, working on news, politics, features, arts, human interest stories, book reviews and sports (I basically did anything and everything I could in there and there was no job too big or too small). 

In a way, it was hard because I was in a newsroom with journalists who had all been doing this for years and while that could have been intimidating, it was the opposite - without the help and support from the 'Echo lads', as I still fondly call them, there's no way I'd have done so well from that internship. 

I really enjoyed my time there and when it was time to leave, I missed it and I'll admit, I still do (sadly, they weren't in a position to take me on afterwards, but without that opportunity, I would not be at this point in my career now).

Immediately after, like with a day in between to move house (all a bit mental really), I got a job in The Waterford News & Star for nine months on a maternity cover contract and this really strengthened my coverage of court and council reports, before moving to The Avondhu (www.avondhupress.ie) in June of 2012 and I've been there since, writing the news snippets for our readers in North East Cork, South Limerick, South Tipperary and West Waterford. 

Starting a blog is something that I've been toying around with for quite a while and now just seemed like the right time. 

I've always been a writer, whether for work or pleasure, and in the past two years, I've started regularly writing in a journal, so I thought that this might be a good way to build on that and also to boost my own profile and online persona (something that cannot be underestimated in our current world of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest). 

The blog will be a mish-mash of my feverish scribbles, I'll talk about current events and my opinion on them, review books, films and products, as well as local hotels and restaurants and I'll also have different sections dedicated to various areas of interest. 

I will be giving my readers and followers at least one new piece a week and as the blog evolves, I would warmly welcome any feedback or ideas for articles - here's to Quinn's Quandries - let the rants, tangents and random tidbits commence.