Progress, and lack thereof

Every year, the paper I work for does a huge special section called Progress. Last year, our theme was tied into the Census, and we did most of our pieces about people in the community who were making a difference. This year, it's about spotlighting great organizations and businesses in the county. Our first deadline, for our medical section, is Friday. Guess who the medical reporter is.

Unfortunately, this year it's also coincided with the youth fair, another big event. Guess who the unofficial youth fair reporter is.

Combine all of that with the fact that my job is busy even without special sections and big events.

I've been so busy at work that by the time I get home, I don't want to so much as look at a keyboard. That's not to say I'm not still doing other things - right now, my main concern is world building. My plan is to sketch out a rough map so I can keep track of where all the cities, rivers, etc. are in the world I'm working on. It's certainly not something that's necessary, but it's definitely going to help me with continuity.

Project number two (We'll call its working title DH) is moving so much smoother than N2N. It feels as though I've learned from the mistakes I made in N2N that made me want to hit my head against the wall. I'm still having a lot of fun writing it. And I think that's what this entire process is all about.

Anyway, that's where I've been.

Time for work.

So yesterday marked a very special milestone in my career.

I did my very first televised interview. I talked about about how a big corporation headquartered here is coping with getting their employees out of their eastern headquarters in Cairo.

This isn't the first time I've worked with our TV partner. In November, I did a couple of live phone interviews about the mid-term elections. And believe it or not, those were scarier than the Skype interview yesterday, because they were live and the Skype interview yesterday was for a pre-taped segment.

But I did a great job of freaking myself out about it.

Especially at the thought of having to wear something that wouldn't look like hobo clothes on TV. Oh. And makeup.

Ugh. Makeup.

For future reference, I'm not a makeup kind of girl. I think the last time I actually wore it was when Cade and I got married in 2009. It mostly has to do with the fact that I'll break out in hives if I buy the wrong brand, but at the same time I dislike the feel of the stuff and I prefer spending the half hour it would take to apply it in bed.

So I called my big sister and asked for her advice. I drove to Target, and with her on the phone I figured out what I needed to buy, and what color, and I went home to practice and hopefully not stab myself in the eye like I did last time I tried to apply eyeliner.

That stuff cost me $50, and that was with me trying to buy the cheaper brands. I couldn't imagine having to buy it on a regular basis.

But long story short, I got everything on without too many issues, and without stabbing myself in the eye.

Only to have Cade tell me I looked "weird... but good weird!" when he came home for lunch.

And with any luck, the rolling blackouts we're having wiped out the majority of the station's watchers at 6 p.m.