Challenges Writing Journalistically

The hardest challenge for me when writing journalistically is achieving brevity. From the beginning of my education, I was taught to include "flowery" language. From elementary school, I was taught to include similes, metaphors, drawn out descriptions, and difficult vocabulary. I struggled to make my papers the required length.

Now, when writing journalistically, it is imperative that I use short, succinct sentences with as few words as possible. The switch from academic to journalistic writing has been difficult because writing academically is a habit. I have to constantly be alert when writing, to insure that I am sticking to all the journalistic style rules.