Showing posts with label Darrell Waltrip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darrell Waltrip. Show all posts

Monday, June 27, 2011

Shifting gears

In 1990, I was the auto-racing writer in Charleston, S.C., and life was good. I was in Daytona Beach for the summer race; I'd written my lead story on Bill Elliott and my notebook lead on Darrell Waltrip starting his 400th career race, and I thought I'd head outside to get a few extra quotes. I was also freelancing for Winston Cup Scene (later NASCAR Scene), and you never knew what you'd find.

I walked outside and saw a plumb of smoke in turn four, white against a lovely blue sky. I hurried to pit road to see what was the matter — there was a clatter of activity — and there was the No. 17 car (DW's) sitting there with a mashed hood and smoke billowing upward.

 Oh, oh! I could see my lead and notebook going up in smoke.

 I hurried down there, found that Darrell and whoever he wrecked with (Dave Marcis, I think) were fine and got a few quotes.

 I rushed back to the press center and made the Bill Elliott story my feature for Sunday. Naturally, I made the Darrell Waltrip piece my lead story for the next day, and I reworked my notebook so I had a lede (newspaper parlance for the lead of a story) note to replace DW.

 As I recall, there was more to it than a wreck. I don't think they used radios in practice back then, and this wreck may have produced a rule that forced Cup teams to use radios during practice. Perhaps that came out while we were writing; maybe it came later. I don't remember.

 I didn't rush, but within an hour and a half after I saw the smoke, the stories were done. I'd used my copy-editing skills to craft what I'd already written into something almost totally different.

 The guys at the News and Courier (it became the Post and Courier a few years later) probably had no idea what I went through, and they wouldn't have cared.

 It was the first time I'd had to deal with something like that, and I found it exhilarating. I was dealing with "breaking news" of the sports kind, and I didn't mind the extra work at all.

 It was a good weekend all around. Elliott and Waltrip both raced on Saturday, I filed my stories for Sunday, then stopped somewhere in northern Florida and watched "The Jetsons" movie. Then I ate somewhere and headed home.

 I expected the extra work to be a pain in the butt. Instead, it was fun.

><


ENTRIES FROM THE DOG BLOG

BLOG ENTRIES FROM THE AUTO RACING JOURNAL
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Being an editor

I didn't plan to be a copy editor and proofreader when I started in the newspaper business in 1979. I wanted to go to sporting events, take pictures, meet and interview famous people, grow as a writer.

And I've done all of those things. I've interviewed everyone from Richard Petty to Nadia Comaneci, from Dale Earnhardt to Mark Gastineau, from Darrell Waltrip to Dan Jansen. I've interviewed Indy 500 winners Parnelli Jones and Johnny Rutherford. And I've covered the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400, among other events.

But for 30 years I've also been a copy editor and proofreader. I've found mistakes and improved the writing for myself and for others. Everything I edit gets a little shorter, a little tighter, and, in most cases, a lot better. Same with my proofreading; it's only a matter of scale.

Everyone needs a good editor or proofreader, especially a good copy editor/proofreader like me.

I've found some great mistakes in my copy and elsewhere. I once left the score out of a rugby game story, and I recall at least one writer leaving off the first name of a college athlete who was being featured in the newspaper. This was pre-Internet, so I had to go to our photo file to find the athlete's first name. I wasted at least a half hour on that one.

Another time, my boss wrote a golf column with the names of four great golfers -- I know that Mark Calcavecchia's name was in there. I fixed two of the golfers' names, then learned the next day that the two other names were misspelled, too. I learned a lesson — never assume a writer (even a great one) has double-checked his facts and spellings.

I've had a few adventures on the desk. Once, I walked into the office, and I was pretty much working alone. One of the writers answered the phone for me, and I did everything else. Thinking back to the movie City Slickers, that might have been my best day (and a nightmare while it was happening).

I'm a pretty good editor, and I've worked with some terrific editors. One or two were simply outstanding. I learned a bit from all of them. And, thankfully, I'm still learning.

><


ENTRIES FROM THE DOG BLOG

BLOG ENTRIES FROM THE AUTO RACING JOURNAL
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)