My Love Affair with Ink & Paper

I've written about this before but I was reminded of this since I started using the soda machine next to the presses. I have a sick sick sick love for the smell of newspaper and ink. Not in a "get high" kind of way. No, not that way. It's just something about the smell of the ink on the paper. It's something about the smell of the paper reels when they are on the belt that carries them alongside the press. The other day when I went to the soda machine I sniffed the roll of paper as it passed by me.

It all started when I was in college. No, I think my love for paper started in 1st grade the first time I opened a Big Chief tablet. I remember loving the smell and feel of the paper. I loved to write on the paper with a pen and to watch the way the paper absorbed the ink.

Fast forward thirteen years to my first job as an ad rep for the Daily Cougar, my college paper. I would walk over to the printer's across the street from the Communication building and when I walked in I loved the way the smell of the ink hit me in the face as soon as I opened the door. I watched in awe as they showed me the presses and the whole printing process.

Now I work for a much larger newspaper and I work right here in the building where we have the larger presses. I can smell the ink and paper when I come into work every day. I can go over and watch the presses run any time I want, provided they're running. I love to watch the big presses run the pages of the newspaper fast and all the pictures and words are just a blur of color.

That’s the reason I know that I'll probably always work for a newspaper in some capacity, as long as they’ll have me, even after I become a successful published writer. Because I love ink and paper.