My Secret Mentor(s)

As somebody who is not an avid reader of any kind really, I don't really have a favorite author.  I know that sounds really weird having a journalism major who doesn't like reading, but here I am.  It's not that I don't like reading, I just can never find anything I really enjoy reading. For me to sit down and read something of any real length, it has to grab my attention and keep it.  I know you are thinking right now, "That's what all writers have to do", but with me it's on a different level. Even now, just trying to write this blog post, I am getting distracted by everything. I hate the fact that everything distracts me.  I guess that means when I write things they should be able to keep anybodies attention because they were written to keep my attention so, that works out pretty well actually. So I guess what I am saying is that I like all authors who can grab my attention and keep it for the entire article.  When I send an article to my sisters on Facebook or to my Dad in an email, it grabbed my attention. In a way then, everybody is my secret mentor... Any author that has gotten my attention and kept it, has inspired me to write like them.  I like the authors that can get the point across when it's news related or when it's not news related, they have lots of details. One good example that I check quite often is fire station websites. I know that sounds kind of weird but it keeps my attention.  One of the sites I check almost everyday is the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department 33 website.  I have a really close friend that is a firefighter there and I like to keep an eye on the big fires they have (plus I love Murphy, the "Station Chief").

Murphy, "Station Chief" of Kentland 33 

Even though you have to know their lingo a little, for example they say, "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta" as sides of the building.  Alpha or A-side is normally the side that is facing the street or the side that the apparatus (or truck) is parked on.  Bravo is the right side of the building, Charlie is the back and Delta is the only side left. Also, they say first due, 2nd due, and 3rd due, this just means when the call goes out, dispatch might call for one fire truck (1st due) then if the fire is big enough or they need a different kind of truck they call for another truck (2nd due). It's really when the trucks arrive so it could also be when the call goes out to each engine.  So the 3rd engine called would be the 3rd due.  All of the trucks are named so Tower 33 is the ladder truck (see the Apparatus tab for all the info of each rig).  These are more like blog posts but it tells you what happened and gets all the information to you that you need to know.  I kind of went off on a tangent but, I think I got my point across.  If it can keep my attention, then I like the author.  So I don't have a favorite author, I like them all.