What do you do when a story falls flat?

Thanks for the input, all.

It's what I expected to hear, and what I'd been telling myself already. Of course these things always seem to carry more weight when someone else says them than when we say them ourselves.

I think part of the problem (maybe a big part) is that I don't write full time, so when I do write I tend to build the pieces up 'til they're carrying undue weight in my mind. Every piece has to be great, every piece is going to be the one that proves I'm a great writer/reporter ... and that's just not possible (or practical).

Again, thanks for the insights.

 

Hey, if I wrote a story that I thought was good and didn't get a call about a mistake in the story or a gripe from a reader that I didn't include someone's cousin or didn't have to live down a mistake in a headline or a cutline, I felt wonderful.

Congrats, Jack.

 

This.

I can only think of one time in the last 10 years when I wrote something that I thought would be epic and it received a lot of positive feedback. I can also think of pieces I've written that I thought weren't worth the newsprint used to publish it and got a positive reaction.

There were a lot of pieces I wrote that heard crickets chirp. That's part of life.

 

Spend a couple months working a story to death, and gotten nothing but shrugs. Spent an hour writing about an injured dog or an inspiring kid and everyone is your friend.

By the same token I've read stories by others that did nothing for me greeted with squeals by editors, touted for contests and celebrated. A lot of it is just having an editor on your side.

 

Jack: You want to be appreciated? Be a fireman. Otherwise, drive on