Journalism has sucked all the flavor out o me

[burghblast]

I just saw Lexy comment that she likes people who write with "flavor".  I do too.  But then I realized that since I spent my college years writing for the newspaper, and have been working as an engineer for the past 5 years, my writing is completley flavorless.  I can't help but think of my personal statement as a "feature article".  I keep asking myself "What should my lead be?" and how can I tie back into it?  I see a huge inverted pyramid with the most important information at the top and I feel like I really, really need at least two good quote sources.  I want as much flavor as possible, but it's so hard for me to write in any other style now that I'm thinking about giving up, sticking a by-line at the top of my personal statement, and submitting it as a feature article

[coffeecoffeecoffee]

I spent some time writing news features, and I do similar writing now for my job. My first attempt at a personal statement turned out AWEFUL, which really pissed me off because I'm a damn good writer.  So I picked up the novels that I had put aside in order to "free my mind" for the PS writing experience.  I wrote down words I liked, phrases that evoked the tone I was looking for, etc.  Then I did some writing excercises, playing with style and tone.  I didn't use any of the words or phrases I wrote down in my essay, I just used them as a backboard against which to bounce my own stuff, and add the missing "flavor."

I was recently talking to a relative of mine, a journalist, who was lamenting the absense of originality in the news.  He said the sports section is the only place in the paper with interesting writing styles and tones, and many journalists shift from features to sports because it allows them to be more creative.  I hate reading about sports, so I never tested his theory.  But if you like sports, maybe start there for inspiration?

[lexylit]

all right dimples, shoot a draft this way and we'll see what we can do