A lead-in is a two to three par on the front cover that leads the reader into the main story on a page in the paper. Something I learnt today during my second day at the QT.

One of my story ideas got up in the morning NC which I was very happy about. About a local poetry competition getting a record amount of entries. I distilled a council media release for it. There was loads of blah blah in it and it’s rewarding to create something that follows the ABC (accuracy, brievity clarity) method. It will be easy to read.

CoS Brigid gave me another media release to follow up about a mysterious artwork at a shopping centre. I learnt how to organise a photo shoot for tomorrow. A carbon copy pad is required, very old school.

Claudia took me out for more vox popping. More rejections today and no sun: interesting correlation? I was proud to see my efforts in print today. It was also lovely to have and read a complementary copy of the paper!

I initiated my own story this afternoon about the new White Pages directory, after seeing a letter to the editor and also hearing ABC report on 612 broadcasted this morning. I rang a source and he was very helpful.

So, I have three stories on the burner at this stage which is great. I have been using my spare time to read loads of news stories.