by David Skolnik

Created on: February 13, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

A true test of a writer's savvy and creativity is his/her ability to perform on deadline. It's like a two-minute drill in a football game when the quarterback, whose team is down by a touchdown, must come through with the performance of a lifetime. You either find a way to do it or blow the deadline and piss off the editor.

My baptism as a writer who must perform on deadline began during college, when I anchored a news program for the campus radio station. In between classes and pep rallies, I had to take my tape recorder and get sound bytes for that night's news. Then I had to duck into a phone booth to do a quick interview before visiting the studio to write copy and share the agenda with the engineer. If I was lucky, I had seven minutes to rehearse, practice voice inflections and calm my nerves before the red ON AIR light came on.

After college, I got my feet wet as a beat reporter for the Newark Star-Ledger, a top 10 metropolitan newspaper. Long days were commonplace. I received my assignments from the City Editor at 10 a.m., got to view the dummies for the following day's paper to see where the stories would be placed.

As a roving journalist, I got to cover rallies, riots, police blotters and special events. There were days I was assigned to the re-write desk and all I would do is improve the copy, write a headline and caption. No phones or beating traffic. Just beating the Olivetti keys while keeping an eye on the clock.

It was so great to feel like Clark Kent or Lois Lane for a day because I lived to tell a story through newsprint and have tens of thousands read my byline and comment about the story in the newspaper's Readers Forum.

In print journalism, there was never a dull moment. The pressure was always on to write crisp, clear and concise. Readers and advertisers demanded a sharp product and I wasn't about to let my editors down.

After I left the print journalism field, I worked for a Madison Avenue ad agency in Manhattan. You talk about client pressure and saving your ass. You had better learn to woof down lunch at your desk or with one hand out the car door in the fast food takeout lane because you were in meetings all day and partying all night.

That was and still is the "MO" of the advertising industry. But, oh the excitement of the lights, flashcubes, sports, fashion and movie types. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Until one day about 10 years ago when I burned out and took ill. Still, I have no regrets. I have a passion for writing and telling a story and, by golly, that's what I still do. Maybe on a slower track or on a slower, gimpy-legged horse, but I still get around.

Pressure and deadlines for me is a piece of cake. For others, it can be a nightmare. You either love it or you don't.

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