I Think I Might Have Really Shit the Bed on This One: Week Six Process Writing

This assignment was rough. I haven't written anything that could be considered "journalism" since my days as the editor of my middle school newspaper, and it's safe to say that I'm a little rusty. Lots of questions question kept popping up  throughout the process of writing, such as:

1. "How do I do journalism?"
I've never done a profile before. It shows. Obviously, I'm going to totally blow the first few times. It's part of the learning process. That knowledge doesn't make it any less distressing to end up with a profile I'm not entirely satisfied with--especially since it concerns subjects that matter a great deal to me.

2. "What the hell was I thinking when I interviewed my subject?"
As I was writing, I found myself wishing for information that I didn't have. I spent a solid block of time interviewing my subject, but I still found myself wishing I had asked more questions or pressed more in certain areas. Again, I'm guessing that knowing what questions to ask is another skill learned through trial-and-error. I have to learn how to anticipate the information I'll need while interviewing. If I'd had time to do a follow-up interview, I think this piece would have been a lot better. Because I had a false start on another subject, I was kind of pressed for time and I did the best I could.

3.  "How do I do words good?"
This came after asking the above questions too many times.

4. "asdfjaskdjfasdfjkasdjfklasjdfklmcsdfjklsdjfkl?"
This question came up after trying to do words good for several hours.

5. (uncontrollable sobbing)

In terms of the actual content, I think there are two main flaws. The most critical is that the focus of the piece seems hazy. I couldn't decide whether to focus on the church or the pastor, and I kind of did both. I'm not sure if it works at all because of this. Also, I'm afraid the piece lacks concrete detail and that it reads like a list of things that happened rather than an actual story.

Of course, I'm very self-critical. Only time  will tell if it was a caffeine-fueled misadventure or a decent start. At any rate, I'm glad that I'm going to have a shot at revising it and I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's feedback in workshop on Wednesday.