Amanda Doan, Editor-at-large, Newsday

I took an online class back in Oct-Nov ’08. My instructor was an editor at Newsday and we corresponded after the class ended. I took him up on his offer to show me around the Newsday headquarters in Long Island. So Sat night was spent tagging along his side, meeting his colleagues, seeing the behind-the-scenes of how a newspaper is made, reading proofs, deciding what stays and what comes out of the stories. It was really cool, although one could say that I was just free labor, not even an intern where I could put it on my resume. =) I even got to edit a story. Unfortunately a bigger story came a couple of hours later and my story got cut out. He said my story would probably be used the next day. I felt like a no name actress learning that my scene had just been cut from the movie’s final cut. Haha. But it was quite gratifying knowing that, “Wow, I have a hand in what will be circulated to soo many readers the next day.” Working on a newspaper didn’t really appeal to me as much as working with textbooks or with fiction novels, but we’ll see. I’m glad God knows cuz it’s quite stressful to decide all on my own. It’s freeing to realize, “Wow, I’ll just ask Him what I should do.” Duh, so simple, but so life-changing.