Last week was one of the busiest I've been through since starting at Think Out Loud about a year ago. I was able to pick up some extra hours since two other producers were out of town. Extra hours means I'm actually able to produce upcoming radio shows instead of just managing our blog or fielding telephone calls for that morning's show. I'd much rather do radio production, but it's not always an option when I'm only working 16 hours each week. Anyway, I had more hours to spend on production and put together two segments for Thursday and Friday.

My primary source for news is Twitter and my primary way of reading the news is in Readability. I read through tweets and then favorite the ones that link to articles I want to read later. Getting those articles to Readability used to be a pain in the ass, but now, thanks to a new website, it's a lot easier.

What if you had to describe what you do in a couple of minutes? Some people call it the elevator speech, the idea being that if you were riding with a potential donor or venture capitalist you'd be able to market your idea or project quickly and effectively. This new zine about Destination DIY by Julie Sabatier is kind of like an elevator speech in printed form. It covers what the show is about, who puts it together, what people are saying, and how to get in touch. I like to call it a menu, because it gives you a good idea of what you'll be getting if you tune in. I didn't have anything to do with the actual writing or layout of the Zine, but I did spend a few hours last week sewing it together with Julie. I'm pretty proud of how we put it together, so I'm writing about it here.

If every story were a circle, what would that circle look like? The October issue of Wired Magazine includes an article about Dan Harmon, creator of the NBC television show Community. The article focuses on Harmon's means of telling a story. He has it broken down into clear steps, and then the steps are drawn into a circle. They are:

1. A character is in a zone of comfort
2. But they want something
3. They enter an unfamiliar situation
4. Adapt to it
5. Get what they wanted
6. Pay a heavy price for it
7. Then return to their familiar situation
8. Having changed

As this blog is supposed to be a sort of work diary I'd like to get in the habit of doing a weekly review of what went well, what didn't, and what I learned. This will be the first post in a weekly series lovingly entitled "Weekly Round-Up" until I find something less likely to make me vomit. As a consolation prize for the shitty title, I offer you a photograph of a funny-looking cat.

I just came across a new zine by Julie Sabatier which tries to answer a simple (and extremely complex) question: how does one make a career in radio? Ever since I started working in radio, I've constantly wondered if I'm on the right track. Starting out as an intern seems pretty common, but was I doing the right internship? Should I have been pursuing print journalism jobs more aggressively? Should I be applying to journalism schools? The questions are never-ending.

I'm convinced that the only way to get better at something is to practice. I'm also convinced that in order for practice to be effective, you have to roll it into your day to day life. If I'm not doing something every day, or almsot every day, I've got no hope of getting better at it.

I just got a new pair of headphones, the Sony MDR-7506. I'd been using a pair from Sennheiser, the HD201, for about the last four years. They served me well, and they were well worth the $20 I spent on them, but it was time to move on.

Two days ago I wrote about how I'm going into work earlier in the morning and working shorter hours. Instead of 40 hours a week, I'm now working 16, and instead of going in at 8 a.m. I'm going in at 7. While I'm happy about the transition to a new schedule (I was interning before and am now a paid employee) it's already presenting some challenges that I didn't expect. Chief among them is how little time I have to actually get production work done. As a case in point, here's how I spent my day yesterday: