I’m Not A “Journalist”, But…

Ugh. I didn’t enjoy writing this article. I feel really “meh” about it, like all of it. It wasn’t fun to draft, write, or edit. I wrote it to try my hand at an actual newspaper-kinda article, and sent it over to JantaKaReporter.com in India. They already had someone cover this news, so they didn’t use this article.

It wasn’t the topic. I had a lot of fun learning about Indian relief operations in Nepal (and have a couple exciting articles about that coming out soon).

But, I really didn’t like the style of this article. It fits the style of the articles we read in newspapers.

I was just going to not post this article, because I don’t think it’s that useful, and it’s definitely not particularly interesting. It’s a “me too” article, which I bet was written by dozens of journalists in less than a couple minutes for a variety of publications. It’s predictable. It’s easy to write. Yeah, easy. It just says “Check. Yup, we wrote about this news.” There’s nothing original or unique that I brought to this article. It’s just regurgitated from a press release, and two interviews I did in the past few weeks.

Over the past several weeks, I may have introduced myself as a ‘journalist’ in select environments. But let’s be honest, I’m not a journalist. I’m not even a citizen journalist. I am heading into the realms of a freelance journalist, but that still doesn’t define what I do, and why I do it.

I’m an entrepreneur. That’s a loaded word, which people use as a synonym for businessman. Right? And that’s true in quite a few cases. But,

“Entrepreneur” is a French word, and it means:
someone who has ideas and does them.

That’s it.

I flew in to Kathmandu without any plan of action, and no connections. I felt a flurry of emotions, including confusion, in the first 24 hours.

I was determined to find what would be the most effective use of my time and skills in Nepal. I was ready to move bricks, set up tents, and whatever else came my way. I made no assumptions about what I would be doing in Nepal, and I just lived in the moment.

Side note: A lot of journalists came here with a “story” in mind. They knew what they were going to say, and where they were going to say it, e.g. Dharara tower, famous temples, collapsed buildings, etc. I know this because I was on a flight with 100+ journalists from Delhi to Kathmandu, and it took 9+ hours to get here when it’s only an hour and a half hour flight. And I got along really well with the journalists. I really loved chatting with them, and I’m still in touch with quite a few of them.

But, I didn’t have a pre-determined “story” or “angle” that I wanted to cover.

I just wanted to do what I felt would be MOST helpful.

Strangely enough, even though I couldn’t rationalize it to myself or others in words, the best use of my time was to document what was going on here in Nepal. I mean, this is home. I grew up here since I was 2 years old, till almost 18, when I flew out to Minnesota.

This wasn’t just a day in Kathmandu, this was history. This was unprecended for our generation.

1/ product: my photos + videos + articles
2/ audience: you + the world
3/ distribution channels: my blog + HuffPo + magazines + newspapers
4/ product + audience + distribution channel = #winning.

I had my trusted GoPro, my MacbookPro and a notebook. I just walked around the streets of Kathmandu, and I realized that it’s largely ok. I met lots of people, had many conversations, and several cups of teas with people I had just met next to their damaged houses.

But I digress….

My point is this, I’m not a traditional journalist. I didn’t enjoy writing this article. This was an experiment, and I learned another thing I don’t want to do. I will continue to write articles in my own little way, just like I have so far, like this one you’re reading right now.

I really enjoy asking questions, persistently ignoring “no” and “maybe” answers to get to “yes”, and sending emails to people to get access to information or places. And, the lesson I learned in improv to #YesAnd everything has proved invaluable in Nepal. I say Yes to everything, and figure it out from there.

And by the way, thank you for your kind messages. I have never considered myself a writer, and I don’t have any writing experience. I didn’t even need to write papers in college beyond 2–3 pages (double spaced).

Every time someone says that they follow my blog and enjoy reading my articles, I’m ecstatic and also in disbelief. I’m really grateful for you for reading and for nudging me along. It’s kept me going and growing.

I should mention, you haven’t seen me post a lot of things on my blog lately. That’s because I’ve been pitching my blog posts to larger blogs and magazines, and they almost always want exclusivity. So far it’s been slow going, even though I’m not asking for any money for my work. But, I’ll let you know as soon my article shows up somewhere else. (UPDATE: eKantipur published my article.)

For example: Last night, I wrote this really nice satire piece, inspired by my love for The Onion. The headline is Snoring Villager Annoys Everyone In Community Shelter. I sent it over to Buzz Feed to publish it, but we’ll see what they say (if anything). It’s a slower and longer process than I would like, but hey — gotta do what i gotta do. (UPDATE: BuzzFeed said no, but may introduce me to The Onion.)

And, yes, of course, I’m going to continue posting the vast majority of my articles on this blog.

Umm.. that was a longer spiel than I had anticipated. But yeah, I wanted to get it off my chest and put it out there.

Oh yeah, you can keep up with my journalistic shenanigans on Twitter at @amrit_sharma.