Lessons learned from the Wasington, D.C. conference

I'm back in Morgantown after one intensive week of the American Society of Newspaper Editors conference. Tired, exhausted, but I have a greater sense for my career, what it means to report, write stories, and what it means to have positive thoughts.

First of all, the students who are in this conference are smart, creative, active and so positive. They are not afraid to talk to strangers; they don't complain when their sources don't call them back; they don't feel nervous talking to high-profile people. One student particularly stood out for me was Tiffany Hsu, not just because of the fact that her resume is amazing, but of the way she acts, behaves, talks and thinks: very very positive.

I learn that editors, or high-profile people, they are not interested in knowing your excuse or while you are late, or nervous, or not supposed to do what you have to do. You just go ahead and start the action rather than babbling over the phone and complain.

I learn to think much better about myself. And that everyone can contribue something, everyone could bring something to the table.

I learn that it's important to dress, act and talk professional.

I learn that every word and quote in the story has to be there for a reason. And that we can't write a perfect story but we can make a story as perfect as possible.

I learn that journalism is a very small business and a very rewarding one. Kenneth Paulson, editor of USA Today and usatoday.com, said he got into journalism because he thought there was something very heroic about what journalists do.

I love how Susan Goldberg, executive editor of The San Jose Mercury News, said about her being an editor can influence other people's works.

Favorite moments: talk to the editor of The Sun-Herald, the vice president of Gannett, and just really being in the same room with the best people in journalism.

It was also the first time I saw Anna Hull, the Washington Post reporter who broke the Walter Reed story, and Bob Woodruff, the ABC journalists who was wounded in Iraq.

I love the free food, hotel, the bar in D.C., walking near the White House during a breezy night, and just be surrounded by people who love this as much as I do...

There were some down moments, but that saves for a later post...

Huong