Our news director/election coordinator prepares a briefing book for us before every election. My copy landed on my desk just before my vacation started. I thought, "Great!" It would provide some vacation reading and the opportunity to start noodling away at writing some election morning previews.
Well, I just couldn't wait. On my last pre vacation work day, the morning executive producer and I discussed some races that we need to focus on. I thought I'd bang out a couple of rough drafts. Refinement could wait during vacation down time.
Well, like the kid who gets up before dawn on Christmas morning, I couldn't help myself. Rough drafts became refined news copy. I even turned the scripts over to a video editor, who will match the words with pictures and graphics. He now knows the direction in which I'm heading. It makes for a stress-free election morning. Let me back up a bit. There never is a stress free election morning. Getting the preview pieces done early is just one less thing to worry about.
There is still plenty of time until the polls open, and I'm sure there will be some last minute tweaks before I record the audio and get things rolling.
I look forward to it.
