Work until you die...

Greetings, readers. I've just had a rather unusual piece of attention that I've really enjoyed -- not a review but a small video/photo collage about the creative process by News & Observer photographer Takaaki Iwabu. You can see it here. The most fun part is that in the print version, I was quoted saying that a writer addresses notes, sources, and keyboard and then "you work until you die." What I actually said (you can see it on the video) is "you work until you're done." I love the amended quote more than what I actually said, so I plan to claim for the rest of my life that I did say it.<div><br /></div><div>It's fun to be on the other side of the quotation minefield for a change. I always tell students that a good exercise to instill a healthy skepticism regarding both reporters and quotations is to watch a ball game and the postgame show and then read several accounts of the game. Students will then have access to film of athletes making comments and then written stories in which they'll read at least two different versions of the same quotation -- usually misquoted by people who used tape recorders. A valuable lesson there: A reporter does his or her best, but there's always room for (mis)interpretation, and a wise reader -- and writer -- keeps that in mind at all times.

Posted by Scott Huler
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