The story continues

I haven't forgotten about my novel-in-progress. I have just been pushing it aside. Deciding to write a novel was rather easy but doing the actual writing is another thing entirely. Which is why I require your help. Please lend me your thoughts on the latest addition to this developiong work!

“Shall we begin this pow-wow,” she asked. Reaching for thin stack of newspapers that lay beside her chair, Winnie held up last Monday’s edition of the paper. It featured my story with the headline “Melee at meeting!” I reported on a local protest group that had surprised city councilors during a regularly-schedule town hall meeting.

Right as the council was discussing nuisance codes; the protestors stormed into council chambers, threw down a petition to recall a recent controversial vote to fire the city administrator.

This outburst reversed what had been up to that point a quick and orderly meeting. Insults were hurled and fists banged on the podium. The dust finally settled around midnight.

As an observer of this spectacle, I was caught between the ecstasy of a mundane meeting quickly transforming into an exciting one and the agony of having to work until midnight.

Winnie held up the front page of the paper in one hand and slowly moved it from her left to her right side so we could all scan it – just as an elementary school teacher holds up a picture book for all the students to get a glimpse of the illustrations

“Thoughts,” she asked.

I cringe whenever I hear those words; asking for people’s feedback is risky business; they could very well tell you how they honestly feel.

For a moment there was silence. An uneasy calm hovered in the air, while the team sat in their chairs, weighing the risks or rewards of speaking out.

The silence was interrupted by Michael, the copy editor, loudly clearing his throat.

“Well,” he said, massaging the bridge of his noise with his thumb and index fingers as if he had a sudden and harsh pain in his head, “I felt that the ‘Melee at meeting’ story could have been done better.”  

“No offense,” Michael casually added.

My heart took a dive. “Oh, dear,” I thought, “this is not going to be pretty.”

“It just seemed like our readers would be left with too many unanswered questions,” he continued. “How did the council respond to the protestors’ demands, how did the former county administrator feel about the petition – we owe it to our readers to have answers to these questions.”

I stared at my feet wondering how in the world a person could be humiliated but for a noble cause – in this case serving the reader.

To make matters worse, the publisher, Merril, kept nodding his head in agreement.

My heart slinked further down, any minute it would hit the floor with a thud.

Merril’s encouragement seemed to ignite excitement within Michael. He threw his full weight in supporting his stance. “The lede did not seem all that great,” Michael said. “It just doesn’t make any sense – ‘What began as a quiet council meeting quickly unraveled into an uproar’?” The lede is suppose to tell the reader everything they need to know about the story. This one tells you nothing.”

Michael paused to take a quick breathe but Winnie swooped in to my rescue. “Does anyone else have any thoughts,” she asked.

I didn’t hear what everyone else thought. My ears were ringing from my own thoughts that shouted in my head.

I spent hours and hours on that story. I rewrote the lede twice. I called multiple sources to confirm facts; I studied the meeting’s minutes to get every fact straight.  How could it not be good enough after all that? I had mapped out route to get this story correct, and yet it still wasn’t?

Then my despair transformed into something else entirely. Who in the world did that Michael guy think he was? Just yesterday, three spelling mistakes manage to escape the quick dashes and lighting fast strokes of his pale blue highlighter pen as he edited the tear sheets but he could rip my work apart?

Suddenly, my heart was no longer on the floor but my blood was boiling.

Something, I decided, needed to be done.