“My Lead Story”

If I'm fortunate enough to become more wrinkled, gray-haired, and nostalgic, I still think in my later years I will identify first as a television news anchor. Almost twenty years after landing my first media job, the personal information sits on my tongue like a missile, ready to fire. Being an author is the "...oh, yeah...." section of my professional accomplishments. The "...oh yeah, and I also write books," component of interviews, articles, and--right now--this blog.

Why? Because of words, of course.

I believe the complex elegance of words and how they describe actions, events, and experiences within this human experience run beneath us like a current. Always there--always moving--always constant, yet never fixed. They are the vibrant link between what we see and how we are able to translate that vision to others. My two worlds intermingle with words.

Whether I'm interviewing a presidential candidate, the victim of a violent crime, or a child feeling her first rush of success, words are my common denominator, allowing the delivery of emotion in real time. I can take you there with me. The right words will pique the physical memories of real life. You will feel the subtleties within the hard clasp of a politician's handshake, the slight twinge in his eyebrow when asked a potent question about policy or scandal, or the spark that ignites deep within his ambitious heart. Words can make you see a crime scene, to view the vastness of a disaster as though you were close enough to smell the carnage.

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Tune in to The Official Prose. Blog later today for the complete article by novelist and Emmy-nominated television news anchor, Jennifer Vaughn, at: blog.theprose.com/blog.