Sometimes I sketch on paper and other times I head straight for the computer. On this particular day my computer was acting up (big surprise) and I had to call the help desk. Luckily I read all of the stories before problems began.

While I was waiting time was ticking away to POD (that is Pilot for when a group of anyone in the newsroom stands behind me and we discuss the stories and if my page is working). This can be intimidating but helpful so you always want something on the page. Two-years-ago me would have been freaking out as the clock hit 5 and I had a little over an hour to get a page together.

I laughingly decided that if my computer wasn't going to be up and running I would just POD with my awesome sketch. Well, It turned out that my sketch was awesome. As my computer came back to life at 5:15, I had an hour to lay it out. I had already discussed the sketch with my design director and got the go. My final page was very close to the original sketch. Thank goodness for our dogleg style. I broke a personal record.

My entire night went more smoothly. The poor, misspelled sketch on lined paper gave me a piece of mind and a plan vs. a white page and the stress of 1 hour to pull it out of my head for the curious editors that would be standing behind me.

Moral of the story: Sketch more often.