Short story books, eventually revealed as sources of inspiration when she feels stuck, lined the huge bookshelf that sat against the yellow painted wall in the background of the Zoom call.

Pulitzer Prize winning Tampa Bay Times journalist Lane DeGregory visited VTSU Castleton Feature Writing class on Sept 30 after students had studied her prize-winning piece, “The Girl in the Window.”

DeGregory told students she was known for being nosey and curious ever since she was a little girl, and it has followed her through her 57 years of living.

“Sometimes I have to tell myself to shut up,” she said with a long laugh. 

DeGregory shared how she has known since kindergarten that she always wanted to be a journalist. She created a newspaper for her elementary school and was editor-in-chief of her high school newspaper located in Rockville, Maryland. 

DeGregory continued to pursue her love for feature writing and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees before entering the profession.

Despite the amount of devotion DeGregory has for journalism, there was a point in time when she was up in the air about it all. 

After being promoted to an editor, she realized that was not what she wanted to do. DeGregory decided to apply to law school but before going realized that was not where she belonged either. 

“I just wanna do journalism,” she said, taking students back to her “ah ha” moment realizing that even though the lawyers were making a lot of money, it wasn’t for her.

“I don’t regret it,” DeGregory said. “I still get to wake up and be the one to tell the story. It is such an honor and a blessing I get to do this job.”

DeGregory shared some of her favorite and most successful note-taking tips during the class interview, when asked by a student.

Seconds after being asked, DeGregory pulled out a laminated sheet of paper that explains her process step-by-step in the neatest handwriting. 

She said how she always starts with writing the date and time first, and every time she flips the page, she writes it again. Next, she makes a space where she writes down her observations using the five senses.

“It felt oily and heavy,” DeGregory said as an example of the scene in Florida after Hurricane Helene.

“It helps you transport the reader there,” she said. “Take notes on your notes.”

DeGregory shared how she also makes timelines of each person she interviews, and then focuses on their highlights. 

And when it is time to get writing, she tells students she puts her notes somewhere out of sight, forcing her to actually just tell the story.

“It becomes so much easier,” she said. 

Another student asked, “What advice would you give to young reporters?”

DeGregory answered to aim for objectivity. She said how crucial it is to know yourself and be honest with who is partnering with you. 

She said the longest she has worked on a story was three years and was based on homeless housing. She explained how she had to go back to the story every six weeks due to the operator’s timeline of making new installments. 

DeGregory then pulled out a huge stack of notes that she has been adding to since February and revealed it to the camera. 

When asked how she deals with writer’s block, DeGregory said, “I don’t let myself get there.”

She explained how when she feels herself lacking motivation on how to start a story, she will take a break… but not completely. 

“Take a walk, bake, play with the dog,” she said, adding that the needed time away is good to simply just think about your story and figure it out while doing other activities. 

DeGegory said she leaves notebooks for herself everywhere. One spot she shared was in the bathroom, as it’s the only quiet place from her husband and dogs, and while she is showering or getting ready, she can reach for the notepad when a creative thought hits her mind.

“A story is like making my bed,” DeGregory said, once you start with the sheets, the rest just flows easily. 

Throughout the whole interview, DeGregory also hinted at her love for Diet Coke. She continuously referred to how long something was going to take based on how many Diet Cokes it would include. She said breaks are just as important as sitting down and writing, and this is where she would treat herself to a Diet Coke. 

DeGregory also expressed her feelings about how the internet impacted the journalism industry. 

“In 2008 one third of revenue was lost when the internet came,” she said, adding that most of the decrease was from Craigslist. 

DeGregory also said how different her day-to-day life is now after the pandemic. She said how her company went from two floors to one to save money, as well as went from 400 people working to only about 200.

She explained how the newsroom was much more upbeat and there was much more ability to converse and bounce ideas off one another. 

“I really miss the newsroom,” she said. “The collaboration was so exciting, and it felt nice to have a safety net of 100 smart people.”

She explained how after the pandemic people were being asked to give up their desks and work from home to allow the newer writers to be in the newsroom. DeGregory decided to let her spot go and went remote, although she said, “there is nothing like the vibrancy of a newsroom.” 

During a follow-up conversation from the class, student Carly Centeno, shared how the way DeGregory talked about the newsroom and the experiences she had, gets her really excited for when it is her time to be in the hot seat. 

“I LOVED the way she talked about being in the newsroom. It was hyping me up to like wanna be in a newsroom,” she said.

As the class came to an end, DeGregory wanted to end with a helpful note. She emphasized how important it is to take care of what you need to do so that when it comes time to start writing, you can focus on it with ease. 

“Take care of your shit,” she said with empowerment. “Don’t waste time sitting in front of a blank screen.”