Sports designer, Fort Myers, Fla.

Homer.

 

SO what if a write leaves, does that mean the copy desk monkey has no shot at moving up?

 

I don't know for sure, but I assume the paper would probably not like to hire someone who viewed writing as "moving up," but instead saw design/copy editing as a fulfilling career in and of itself.

 

But that's not usually the case.

 

Maybe not for you, but there are plenty of people in this business who go inside and stay there and like it, perhaps headed for management, perhaps night -- they just might like editing or design.

At our place, it's repeated about 10 times during the interview with a good candidate -- on its face, this job has no chance of ever involving writing, except perhaps for blogging.

Hiring somebody for the desk who just wants a foot in the door so they can write someday is a recipe for a very unhappy experience.

Now, say you hire such a person, and they show they're good with words or have a high level of expertise in a certain sport, and by chance somebody on one of the big beats leaves, it's not inconceivable you'd at least look at that person. But it is emphasized over and over that that's not likely to be the case.

 

I went inside for the steady hours, the higher pay, the thrill of deadline (I thrive on it), and ... the chicks, of course.

(Chicks who can spell better than I can ... rowr! 8))

 

I hate driving. That's more than enough reason to make myself a permanent desker.

 

But like I said, that's not usually the case.

 

I wouldn't wanna work on a desk with somebody who took the job on the hope he'd get a writing job in a few months. The desk isn't a dumping ground for people who aren't good reporters/writers, so don't treat it like one.

 

But many desk people also do some writing, and some writers do some desk. For me, it's a nice break to mix it up.

 

Had a friend land this position in early summer. She's been down there since and, from what she's told me, she's enjoyed her time at the paper -- and in Fort Myers.

This is a paper very dedicated to its design. Some cool things down there.

 

The desk SHOULDN'T be a dumping ground for people who aren't good reporters/writers, but unfortunately, sometimes it is.

At one of my previous stops, right after they hired a new writer, the guy who was runner-up for the writing position was hired to the desk. I heard a lot of talk about him not really reading copy very closely and basically just doing enough to get by until an opportunity to write came along, not to mention the friction between the new editor and the writer who had beaten him out.

I also know of a smaller paper where a desk guy was hired with the promise being next in line for a writing position. Unfortunately for him, there was a stronger candidate who beat him out for the job.

Kudos for the man in charge clearing up any potential confusion up front in the case of this job.

On a side note, I've spoken with Mark Bickel a time or two when he was up north. At Poughkeepsie, I think. Seemed like a decent guy. I had wondered where he went.