Navigating the Ups and Downs of Writing and Editing

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Reflecting on experiences from college paper editing to blogging ambitions, the speaker discusses the challenges, unconventional routines, and career transitions in the creative industry. From managing a student paper with financial struggles to embracing a unique writing routine involving sour strawberry belts and music, the chapter dives into the speaker's evolving aspirations and strategic career decisions. With anecdotes of layoffs, freelance struggles, and the perseverance needed in journalism, the narrative highlights the speaker's journey from college internships to a role at Deadspin.

Kelsey McKinney is a features writer and co-owner at Defector.com. She hosts the podcast Normal Gossip and is the author of the upcoming book You Didn't Hear This From Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip.

“I was always very interested in how you strategize a creative career. And I think that that is an unsexy thing to talk about, right? It's much sexier to be like, Oh, I love working on my sentence-level craft, which is not true for me. But I think that a lot of a creative career is understanding it is still a job, and then understanding how you make sure that within the container of the job you can do the work that you want to do. That is a really difficult balance to make. So if you can understand how people who have done it before you, you can copy them.”

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