{"id":2148,"date":"2021-05-20T17:36:07","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T17:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2021\/05\/20\/writing-nine-parts-mechanic-one-part-muse\/"},"modified":"2024-03-07T17:21:22","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T17:21:22","slug":"writing-nine-parts-mechanic-one-part-muse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2021\/05\/20\/writing-nine-parts-mechanic-one-part-muse\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing: Nine parts mechanic, one part muse"},"content":{"rendered":"    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-html mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            <span class=\"legacy-dropcap\">I<\/span> spent the early years of my journalism career struggling with pretty much everything about the job, but especially with the writing. The reporting was often uncomfortable as I pushed past my mother&#8217;s three cardinal rules, all variations on a basic theme: &#8220;Don&#8217;t be nosy.&#8221; But my want-to-know-everything curiosity had always outplayed my attempts at obedience, and in reporting, I found a role where that was welcomed \u2014 as long as I learned to park the sass factor in the newsroom.<br \/><br \/>Writing was another matter. Not easy when I started this life more than 40 years ago; not easy now. I can&#8217;t tell you how many tortured nights I sat frozen at the keyboard as a young reporter, praying for the Muse to rescue me. It took a long time to realize that she always showed up \u2014 but too often it was after deadline. That led to a new awareness: I found I could summon her pretty reliably, but only if I first did my own hard work. She wasn&#8217;t there to help me dance past struggle. Rather, it was when I put in the effort \u2014 used the tools I had available \u2014 that she appeared with some bit of insight or even, on rare occasions, writerly magic.<br \/><br \/>I came to think of writing as a partnership between the Mechanic and the Muse. Sometimes one led; sometimes the other. But I needed to respect both. I carried that belief into teaching and editing. I think people come to conferences or workshops or editors seeking a combination of tools and inspiration. The former without the latter is serviceable but dull; the latter without the former is flighty and self-indulgent.<br \/><br \/>My own journey probably has me leaning more heavily toward the toolset of the Mechanic. I&#8217;ve seen lots of journalists \u2014 pros and students alike \u2014 light up with aspiration when they read a standout piece of work or sit in the audience of one of the stars. But the people I hear from years after the fact, with notes of gratitude or links to a special piece of work they did, are almost always those who mention a sourcing or reporting or writing tool they had learned to use. Even the most talented writers I know are those who, even if they don&#8217;t talk about it the same way, have mastered the craft that creates the art.\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>spent the early years of my journalism career struggling with pretty much everything about the job, but especially with the writing. The reporting was often uncomfortable as I pushed past my mother&#8217;s three cardinal rules, all variations on a basic theme: &#8220;Don&#8217;t be nosy.&#8221; But my want-to-know-everything curiosity had always outplayed my attempts at obedience, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"topics":[],"authors":[3],"issue":[],"class_list":["post-2148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-editor","authors-jacqui-banaszynski"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Writing: Nine parts mechanic, one part muse - Nieman Storyboard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2021\/05\/20\/writing-nine-parts-mechanic-one-part-muse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Writing: Nine parts mechanic, one part muse - Nieman Storyboard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"spent the early years of my journalism career struggling with pretty much everything about the job, but especially with the writing. The reporting was often uncomfortable as I pushed past my mother&#8217;s three cardinal rules, all variations on a basic theme: &#8220;Don&#8217;t be nosy.&#8221; But my want-to-know-everything curiosity had always outplayed my attempts at obedience, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2021\/05\/20\/writing-nine-parts-mechanic-one-part-muse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nieman Storyboard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-20T17:36:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-07T17:21:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Wrenches-scaled-e1621532126701.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"commonmedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"commonmedia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/20\\\/writing-nine-parts-mechanic-one-part-muse\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/20\\\/writing-nine-parts-mechanic-one-part-muse\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"commonmedia\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ad131fac9b2e8136d6171c8575cfc226\"},\"headline\":\"Writing: Nine parts mechanic, one part muse\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-20T17:36:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-07T17:21:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/20\\\/writing-nine-parts-mechanic-one-part-muse\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":406,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/20\\\/writing-nine-parts-mechanic-one-part-muse\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/Wrenches-scaled-e1621532126701.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"From the Editor\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/20\\\/writing-nine-parts-mechanic-one-part-muse\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/20\\\/writing-nine-parts-mechanic-one-part-muse\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/20\\\/writing-nine-parts-mechanic-one-part-muse\\\/\",\"name\":\"Writing: Nine parts mechanic, one part muse - 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