A Writer's Truth

Welcome to my Mastery Journal! I am a Full Sail University student working towards an MA in Journalism. I have a previous BA in Sociology and MFA in Creative Writing. I want to show people that as long as you understand human interactions and social situations, you can write avid, in-depth characters.

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NMJ690: Reflections

The final course in the New Media Journalism program at Full Sail University was all about getting the actual thesis my project was based off of completed. It was compiling all the research and content into a cohesive paper that showcases why my project is relevant and important. I feel like I struggled a lot in this course because of technical difficulties. It is so much harder to submit on time and get things done correctly when nothing wants to work right. Overcoming these struggles in a part of life in general. I feel like I did an okay job and am just happy to be finishing my degree. 

I would recommend Full Sail University to anyone looking for a school that really cares about their students. My instructors did everything they could to help me learn about the world of journalism and how to use journalism in today’s society. I loved the courses I took and the things I worked on throughout my program. Overall, I think I had an amazing experience and I can’t wait to see where life takes me next in this journey. 

Image: https://www.powerofpositivity.com/unemployed-motivational-quotes/ 

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Course Reflections for New Media Publishing and Distribution @ Full Sail University

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Carrying On The Supernatural Fandom Family

Featured Image: Digital Spy The television show, Supernatural aired its first episode in 2005 on what used to be the WB Network, but is now the CW. The show seemed to be geared towards young adults…

Supernatural has influenced the lives of many people and become so much more than just a fandom. 

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The Disappointment is Real

Course Reflections for Social Media & Online Community Engagement @ Full Sail University, Master of Arts in New Media Journalism

I am a returning Full Sail student, so I originally took the Mastery class for my Creative Writing degree not this one. They used my past course credit for this degree, so I don’t have any listed expectations from my mastery class that are relevant to this program. Going into this class, I expected much more focus on Social Media in general. I was hoping that instead of writing more content and posting it, we would learn how to repost old content and better ways of improving our social presence online. While we did learn some of this, I was a bit disappointed in the way the information was presented within the class. I felt like a lot of what we learned I already knew.

I feel the three things I learned this month were more about my website than social media. I learned how sharing on social media can drive traffic to my website. I learned how changing the social media post to be custom for each site I’m posting on prevents redundancy for follows of multiple social media platforms. And lastly, I learned that social media can hinder content just as much as it can help it, since it is being viewed by a public grouping of people, there can be backlash to the writer (which is super easy to do on social media) if the content seems controversial.

I think the website information will be most useful in the future. Knowing that I can get people to view my website and my work by sharing it on social media is a very beneficial to me as a journalist. I think that this class was a great starter to social media work, but I was honestly a bit lackluster. I really wish there had been more focus on the behind the scenes stuff. Overall, this course was okay, but it was not my favorite class so far.

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Course Reflections for Digital News Production at Full Sail University

This class was interesting in that it was exactly what I was expecting it to be, a more detailed look at how to create newsworthy content that people want to read using various multimedia elements. I really enjoyed this class and what I was able to learn about how to get my content published on my website and make sure people will be viewing it.

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Course Reflections for Digital News Production at Full Sail University

This class was interesting in that it was exactly what I was expecting it to be, a more detailed look at how to create newsworthy content that people want to read using various multimedia elements. I really enjoyed this class and what I was able to learn about how to get my content published on my website and make sure people will be viewing it.

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My Multimedia Development and Editing course was a very interesting class to take. I feel like I learned a lot from the class and met the goals I have set for myself throughout my program. To learn more about my thoughts on this course and what was required of me as a student, please watch the above video. 

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Research and Investigation: Course Reflections

Going into this course by what the title of it is, I thought it would be more of a research based course on how to research content we choose to write about. While that was a focus of the course, I feel the course is less about the research aspects and more about the investigative nature of journalism. Knowing how to find and use sources, how to interview people, and how to put out well founded content is what this course is really about. So, between my expectations of the course and what it really turned out to be, I was pleasantly surprised. The class is great at helping us find our niche in the topic we have chosen to focus on. 

I feel like the most helpful thing I learned in this course is to plan ahead. Interviews and planning a detailed well written article takes time. I think if everyone knows what topics they want to write about and outlines articles ahead of time, there is a better chance of the content turning out well. In the future I hope to use what I learned about investigative journalism, interviewing, and researching topics to better the content I am producing. I think this course has done a good job of preparing me to use what I know and how to look up what I don’t in the correct manner. 

The one issue I have that I became aware of because of this course and a previous course was that I was confused about what the program is trying to get us to do. I think we are not aware that we are trying to build a portfolio of work all based upon one selected topic. The NMJ program needs a class or section that helps students find their focus for the program as a whole. Students need to be able to sit down with someone who teaches the courses and plan out their path leading up to these classes I am taking now. The confusion I originally faced of not knowing what I was working towards has been relieved by a simple discussion with the course Instructor who was able to point me in the direction I was trying to go, but couldn’t see how to get to it.

Overall, I feel like I have grown as a creator and writer because of this and other courses I have taken in this program at Full Sail and I look forward to what else I might learn in the future. 

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Legal Aspects of Media: Course Reflections

Full Sail University: MA in New Media Journalism

My favorite assignment in this course was the Press Release publication assignment where we had to write a mock press release for a real news item. It was a interesting to learn how to format something for release to the press and public. Knowing how to make a press release will be a useful skill for anyone in the journalism area. But, while I enjoyed the Press Release assignment, I think other things we did this term were more useful. I feel like out of all the course topics covered this month the ones on copyright infringement and advertising are important for a communications professional. Remembering to be both ethical and honest in my reporting is important. The best thing we can do as media professionals is to showcase the best of ourselves within our work and being dishonest or plagiarizing seems to be the way to ruin a career rather than succeed in one. Knowing what you can and cannot say or do as a writer seems to be a very important aspect of becoming a legitimate journalist. On the legal side of things, there was a lot of information in this course. I felt a bit overwhelmed in all the legal information we were given in regard to being a media professional. Handling legal issues in the communications industry seems to be rather complicated. I feel the best way to protect ourselves is to make sure we are always doing what best follows the rules and regulations of the services that control the media in this way.

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Writing for Interactive Media: Course Reflections Post

The course Writing for Interactive Media was interesting. Sadly, I have to say it was not my favorite course. While I learned a few useful things, I was expecting something more. Going into it, I thought the course was going to be a how to write for different forms of media class. But, mostly the focus was on how to create a journalistic story that is newsworthy and tell it. There was nothing to do with writing for different forms of media.

With all the issues going on in the world right now, I was disappointed that having interviews for every single story was so forced and made out to be such a huge deal. Many of the people I contacted for interviews were too busy to deal with a student writer or didn’t have time because of the Coronavirus. When a pandemic, like COVID-19 pops up, I’d expect there to be some leniency to how the courses, even online are run. I have successfully written content, shared it via social media and had it gain thousands of page views without ever interviewing a single person. I feel that as long as the content is good and any sources that are used are relevant, the piece should do well.

The one thing I really liked about the course wasn’t actually something I learned. It was a series of resources, PDF files on different topics, which were used as the course material in some places. They were well organized and broke down the ideas in a simple way. I really enjoyed the Essential Story Elements one and saved it to my writer resources for later reference and review.

I also appreciated getting feedback from my classmates on my story ideas. This was helpful to know what I was doing well that may spark a reaction from someone and what I needed to work on. While in other courses, students complained about the RISE format for feedback, I personally love it and feel it helps to make my reviews better.

I feel a bit disappointed in what it actually was versus how Full Sail is advertising it to the students. The course descriptions on the degree program website say “A primary objective of the Writing for Interactive Media course is for students to master narrative principles by examining new ways of telling interactive, narrative stories for visual and digital media while learning through experience about the critical role that multimedia methods play in engaging audiences with complex information.” (Full Sail University) I don’t feel like I learned anything about writing for visual or digital media and in a way I feel cheated out of what sounds like a great course.

Overall, this was an okay class and I’m glad I can move on from it and into something new to focus on.

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Besides writing and journalism, I have a fondness for designing graphics, so I included one in my post today.

As a returning Full Sail student who took the Mastery course over a year ago, my original Mastery plan was focused on Creative Writing and not Journalism. For this reason, I have chosen to just detail my thoughts on the New Media and Communications course.

Going into this class I was expecting to have to do more work on how my brand is set up. I am assuming now that will come later within the program. What really ended up happening was that I was given a chance to refresh my website with a focus towards Journalism.

My favorite assignment from this course was from the first week where we discussed competence within journalism. I found the information very useful and I am hoping to implement the skills I have learned in regard to competence within my future work. I hope to learn more about how competence fits into journalism.

I also really enjoyed the assignment on trends in journalism and the media. This assignment was very worthwhile and was great at showing how this industry can change and develop quickly.

Overall, this class was a great starter to the Journalism program, and I am super excited to get more into the details of journalism.

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Declaration of Writer Status

In partial requirements for Creative Writing Portfolio 2 @ Full Sail University.

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Week 4 Reflections

Advanced Visual Storytelling @ Full Sail University

So, I lost my voice yesterday since I’ve been sick and I cannot talk to record this as I should. 

This week was really interesting. I got to experience the struggles a true producer or director goes through. One of my voice actors quit at the last minute and I had to find someone to step in and help me record one of the male voices I still didn’t have voicing work for. Luckily, a family friend was able to help. I now understand why having connections is important. If I knew more people, I may have been able to find someone easier or faster. 

Other than that little mishap, I actually had fun putting my scene together. I got all the voices and the images I planned to use and had to figure out how to work in the music and the changes for the scenes.

Overall, I feel like it turned out pretty good. The coolest part was seeing my finished scene. 

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Visit Original Link

In partial requirements for Advanced Visual Storytelling @ Full Sail University

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Visit Original Link

For Advanced Visual Storytelling @ Full Sail University

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Director’s Treatment AVS 2.3 MFA Full Sail