My Name in the Paper

I've written a tiny bit for my section of the paper, the Sunday Source. No hard-hitting investigative journalism here, just (hopefully) entertaining diversions and product reviews. Here's byline No. 3, a review of "rum" hand soap. (Neil says I should clarify that I technically do not get a byline but the slightly less prestigious "bytag," which is the writer's name at the end of a story, rather than at the beginning. I say, same diff!)

 

This is where I give you the behind-the-scenes dish on the review (special feature!). The first sentence was the last thing that I wrote. I originally led off with sentence No. 2, but after concluding with the pirate reference, I realized I needed to set up something piratey beforehand. Neil was reading the review for me while I was brushing my teeth (yeah, I procrastinated and wrote the thing late the night before my deadline), and the new lead popped into my head. I shoved him aside (nicely) and typed it in. He agreed it was an improvement. There you go, a peek into my "process." 

I'll blog about my first two bylines/-tags another time.