Ep. 62 - Writer & Newspaper Community Editor - Bret Nye, The Courier

Welcome back to the Joust About Careers podcast! This episode features a conversation with Bret Nye, a 2007 Van Buren High School graduate who the Community Editor at The Courier, the daily newspaper in Findlay, OH. In the interview Bret shares about how a typical day looks for him (hint - no day is typical in journalism), why he has multiple master's degrees, the positive and negative aspects of journalism careers, and much more. Anyone interested in pursuing a career as an author or journalist will find information related to starting down those paths in this episode. Enjoy the show! 2:00 - Life as the Community Editor at The Courier 3:48 - By the end of every night, the goal is to have the paper ready for the next. 4:18 - Much of Bret’s day as editor is spent in front of a computer. 4:43 - As a reporter, much more of the day is spent outside the office. 5:30 - In high school, Bret knew that he loved writing, so he considered both journalist and creative writer as a career. 6:20 - Went to grad school at Miami for creative writing 8:07 - Bret loved teaching creative writing at the college level. 8:40 - Anyone can be a creative writer and publish works. 9:05 - The Master of Arts in Fiction Writing from Miami (OH) was similar to the degree he earned at Notre Dame. 9:58 - Using education to find his voice as a writer 10:18 - There are also PhD programs in creative writing. 11:06 - Being a creative writing professor is not an easy career path. 11:55 - Adjunct professors are part-time professors. 12:38 - Was also an adjunct professor at BGSU 14:09 - Bret taught some business-leaning classes at George Mason University. 15:00 - Even learning to use a university library is a herculean task. 16:08 - The best aspect of being in journalism. 18:51 - Potential negatives of being in journalism 19:48 - The way we consume news today is different from how we consumed it five years ago. 20:57 - Journalism is not a 9 to 5, every day is the same-type of career. 23:25 - There are many careers in journalism that DON”T involve writing. 24:44 - It is tough at the moment for Bret to work on personal writing projects, but he still keeps working on them. 26:08 - He did publish some short stories back in college. 26:55 - What Bret has learned: Lean on those who are already in the career field which interests you in order to learn from their experiences and avoid your own mistakes. Questions? Connect with Brian on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/brian-bratt/) or e-mail ([email protected]). Connect with Bret on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/bret-nye-a55993119) or by e-mail ([email protected]).