This morning I had the pleasure of seeing my first byline in a semi-national publication. Newsweek’s national college publication “Current” hit the web this morning, and sometime between brushing my teeth and putting on a pair of socks I flipped through the online version (viewable here – my article is on page 50).

For some reason or other, every article I write comes with a “favorite moment.” It might of been while penning the lead, or talking with sources, or hashing out angles with my editor. However, for this article, I had two favorite moments.

The first was writing it in New York. Getting to hover over my laptop on the hotel bed after a long day at Conde, trying to drum up a draft and call a publicist within the hours, was such a solitary joy. Stopping to hear those New York sounds out my window made me feel like I was living the dream. I was, if only for a few days, a New York journalist. Incidentally, my I never caught that publicist and was assigned another topic, which I finished while editing the book over the summer.

My second favorite moment writing the article was the editing process. After the third draft of my article, I got a call from an editor at Newsweek (which in itself made me squeal like a dork). We went through the article together, and based on all the attention they devoted to my short little write-up, I really learned why Newsweek is the great publication it is today. I mean, those editors are so good. I’ve never had an article of mine given so much thought. I’m really big on accuracy, and so are they. When they were done, an article I thought couldn’t get better was way better than when I started. I like that. Needless to say, I have much respect for them.