Plane investigation
It's pretty well-known that I like my job. Of course, that's not always the case, but then there are times when I simply love it. For instance, I loved investigating and writing another story about the planes circling over Lodi. (That link has a photo, but if it wants you to register, try this one.)Reporting this story was interesting. I ran into dead ends due to government officials who wouldn't/couldn't talk. Then I ran into more dead ends when I could find nothing about a business except for an address in a mailing store. And I came across plenty of loony ideas and suggestions.
Investigating can't last forever, so I began writing in order to figure out just how many gaps I had in my story. It's not a heavy, gloomy subject so I was able to have a little bit of fun with it. Read far enough into the story, and you'll even find a reference to myself.
So the story was finally published today, and then came the bonus: I got responses, just as I had for my first story on the planes. This time, a couple more possible sources came crawling out of the proverbial woodwork and offered information that could even lead to yet another story. Others, from places ranging from Utah to Canada, wrote to say how much they enjoyed my story. Another postive note came from an anonymous person who has e-mailed me a couple of cryptic, negative letters in the past year.
Conclusion: I got paid to ask questions, try to satiate my curiosity, see my story across the front page and then get some good responses. It's fun to play detective and then write about it!
Posted by Layla at 11:55 PM, June 29, 2005
— Comments —