Each school represented through Odyssey has a team of writers. If the team is big enough, each writer needs to write one article per week. But, someone has to lead this team. Someone has to give them advice and tips on their writing or give them article ideas when they are going through a writer's block. Someone has to weed out the mistakes in the articles. Side note: Each article is edited by three people! The person to do all of this is the Editor-in-Chief! I am beyond proud to say that I get to fulfill this role at my school's chapter of Odyssey! Let me tell you a little bit about what an Editor-in-Chief actually does! Maybe, if you are already a writer, this will push you to try for the Editor-in-Chief role one day!
1. Recruitment, Recruitment, Recruitment.
One of the most important things the Editor-in-Chief does is constantly bring in new recruits! The Editor-in-Chief is always focused on growing the team and make the current writers and contributing editors better! I am pretty sure some of my friends will probably disown me because I am bugging them so much about writing for Odyssey. But, if you love doing something, you work for it as hard as you can right? I thought so. We love it when someone texts, emails, or calls us about being interested in writing for Odyssey! We also love it when our writers and contributing editors bring us names and contact information on people who are/might be interested in writing for Odyssey! Our philosophy has always been something along the lines of "the more the merrier!"
2. Edit and Answer Questions.
Every article that is written for Odyssey goes through three editors to get as many mistakes out as possible before publishing. It starts with the Editor-in-Chief of each branch. We will correct the little things and inform you if there are any major mistakes. If a mistake is something as big as not putting an attribution and attribution url, we will send it back to the writer for editing and ask them to fix it! We also help each writer if the need it! Whether it's a question about the CMS, about writing in general, or about topics to write on, you're Editor-in-Chief will always be there for you to help.
3. Work with AMAZING Managing Editors and Copy Editors.
They are incredible people! They are there to make sure that every school's team succeeds. Trust me when I say that they want you to succeed just as much as you do. They are there to help and they also provide the biggest amounts of support and encouragement. I would go so far as to say that I have the best Managing Editor! Shannon, you're awesome! Anyway, being Editor-in-Chief means you get to build and foster lasting relationships with some pretty great people! We're all one big family!
Though I have only been Editor-in-Chief for a short time, it has already taught me so much. I absolutely cannot wait to see what the next few years hold as I and my team grow and improve to be the best individuals we can be! I wouldn't trade this job for anything!!!
