A Day In The Life Of: A Journalist

A Day In The Life Of: A Journalist

6:00 am:No way I can shut off my alarm and sleep a few more minutes this morning! I am driving all the way to Tripoli for a one on one interview with a very well-known Lebanese political figure at9:00 am sharp!

7:00 am:I’m ready and good to go. Grab an apple and my papers. I still have to rehearse my questions on the way. It’s going to be at least a2 hour drive with all the traffic in Beirut this time of the day

8:30 am:I am finally there and ready for my interview. I greet the politician (he’s taller than I thought he would be) and we sit in his office for an extensive session of Q&A about his views concerning the political situation in the region in general and Lebanon in particular.

11:00 am: I happily wrap up the interview. I thought it was going to drag much longer. I should now run back to the office to formulate a final version to be published in tomorrow’s morning paper.

1:00 pm: Grab a tuna sandwich from the newspaper cafeteria and back to my office. Roughly go through my e-mails and respond to the most urgent ones. I should seriously start hitting the gym; I have a terrible back pain!

3:00 pm:I am in the process of formulating a solid interview version of today’s meeting. I know exactly what keywords to use to make it look juicy and interesting so it shouldn’t take me a lot of time really.

5:00 pm:I press send and there it goes to my editor’s inbox. I am in desperate need of a chocolate bar, especially if I am still to write another feature tonight. On my way to the lobby, I thank God vending machines were ever invented, grab a bar of Snickers and go back to my desk

5:30 pm: I get my thoughts together and I know what I am writing for tomorrow’s social feature. I take out my outline about “plastic surgery in Lebanon: necessity or luxury?” By now, of course, everybody reckons it has become a necessity!!

8:00 pm: So I dragged until8, but I am quite happy with the end result. I send it to the editor, and tomorrow morning, it shall be available to the public eye!!

8:30 pm: I am walking towards my car thinking of the quite hectic day I had, and if I had the chance of doing it all over again…I wouldn’t change a thing. I love what I do for a living

9:15 pm: Finally home. Domino’s pizza delivery guy is there before me. I pay and lay on my couch. I had a long , but fruitful day, and my treat for such days always is a vegetarian pizza for dinner

11:00 pm: I can barely open up my eyes. I drag myself to bed thinking of what to write tomorrow for the social feature. I remember I also have a press conference and a media function to attend the following day. Am I out of ideas or am I just sleepy?

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Mohannad Aljawamis
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