Burning Desire

Chapter 13

My head was spinning with thoughts of the promotion at Satisfaction, and the New York Times contest all morning. Not to mention, Jesse and Alex were nagging at my brain. I couldn't focus my mind to get any work done, nor could I hardly pay attention when Mandy called a meeting to discuss Satisfaction's owners wanting to shift the magazine to include more hard news like the stories you see on the major television news networks.

Current affairs, especially regarding politics and human rights, had become a much more important topic to young adults in recent years, and the board of directors wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to appeal to a wider audience by reducing the amount of celebrity gossip we printed and adding new columns that focused on real news.

I'd been completely uninterested in the meeting when I'd first walked in, but after hearing that I'd have a good shot at expanding my career to include writing about current events, like I'd been wanting to do for so long, I couldn't tear my attention away from the magazine's Vice President, Tom, who was explaining their game plan.

Nearly an hour later, Mandy wrapped up the meeting with a recap of how she wanted some of us to start gradually changing up our writing styles and introducing our readers to a new type of story. She and Tom had comprised a list of Satisfaction's writers whom they predicted would be the best to delve into the world of current affairs. Once the meeting had concluded, we all scanned the list to see who had made the cut. I groaned inwardly when I spotted Nicole's name on the sheet. I had to admit, she was a talented writer. There was no denying that. But she was also the most irritating coworker I'd ever had and I wanted to strangle her with her own hair extensions! I honestly couldn't imagine someone like Nicole writing about current affairs that didn't involve which actor was getting a divorce that week or which singer had just gotten a nose job.

My heart skipped about four beats, however, when my eyes landed on my own name right next to Alex's on the list. I blinked several times and looked at the paper again just to make sure I wasn't imagining it. Sure enough, it was there in black and white. I was finally going to get the opportunity to write about the topics I'd gotten my journalism degree for in the first place!

I wanted to be a real hard-hitting news reporter. I wanted to work my way up the ladder to having a huge, popular daily section in the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, or even the New York Times, if I was lucky enough! I knew it would take years to build my credibility and grow a large audience to appeal to a massive newspaper like any one of those, but I was more than ready for the challenge! I had spent the last two years worrying that I'd never get passed writing about What Color Roses Are Wedding-Perfect and When to Suspect He's Cheating. Now I had a chance – a real chance – and I was excited to grab onto it and see where it took me!

I quickly scurried back to my office while most of the rest of my coworkers stayed chatting in the boardroom about the meeting. I was anxious to get started on my first real news column! I had so many ideas, I didn't even know where to begin! There was so much going on in the world and I didn't have a large enough space in our magazine to fit everything I wanted to cover. I decided to come up with a list of five or ten subjects and do a process of elimination to determine which stories would jive best with my current audience over the next few weeks.

I was eager to build a wider audience and attract more young people who were interested in current events, but I knew I had to ease my readers into my new writing topics or I'd run the risk of losing a lot of them early on. I knew the readers who were excited to submit questions to my bi-weekly love and romance Q and A probably weren't going to jump at the chance to read an article about a political race or what was going on in the Middle East. I'd have to be very careful about introducing my readers to something other than sex, gossip, and who was best dressed at the Oscars.