MY STORY:

• For the love of books

MY BLOG:

I have always been a reader. Even before I could read I would beg my parents to read everything to me. Naturally, when I learned that I would need to write a story my thoughts leapt to books.

My thoughts also went to my friend Sinai Valero. I’ve known Valero since elementary school. In that time, I have managed to interview her for almost every project like this that I have had.

Since Valero owns a comic bookstore and is my favorite interviewee of past projects, I started to formulate a plan to write a feature on local bookstores.

Finding resources for my story was much easier than I expected.

Getting hold of Valero was no problem, seeing as we have been friends for so long. I got in contact with Anne Holman and Ken Sanders through family. My uncle has worked with both of them. He was kind enough to put me in touch with them.

These people were perfect for my story. Since each of them run a local bookstore, they know a lot about the industry.

Making sense of my information wasn’t hard. Each of my interviewees talked a lot about the communities surrounding his/her store and the threat of online shopping. So, when I sat down to go through my notes the focus was obvious.

The actual writing was harder. The most difficult part of writing was getting started. There were many times when I sat down in front of my laptop, opened a Word document, and then immediately shut down my laptop. But eventually I told myself that I needed to get something done. So, I wrote an outline. Seeing my story laid out made it feel much more doable. Suddenly, the writing came easily.

What surprised me about this whole experience is how much I enjoyed interviewing. As I mentioned, I have already done a few interviews, but it was only with friends. The idea of interviewing strangers was daunting. But I loved it. I’m excited to see where this newfound love of interviewing will take me.

ABOUT ME:

I am a communications major at the University of Utah. My intention is to graduate in the spring of 2020 with an emphasis in journalism. I grew up around the news, spending my childhood as a “backseat listener” of NPR. I’ve always been fascinated by world events and politics. As a result, I have grown to love hearing and telling others’ stories.

Journalism wasn’t my first choice for a career. Along with an interest in news and politics, I also have a fascination with plants and animals. My plan was to go into biology. However, I quickly discovered this was not what I needed to be doing. After some introspection, I realized that writing is more suited to my talents.

I look forward to getting further into the journalism field and to learning more about what is going on in my world.