During more than six years on the business desk at the Deseret News, I edited or wrote dozens of stories about corporate layoffs.

Sometimes the stories dealt with huge players in the national economy firing hundreds of people. Other times, a story would focus on a small business laying off a handful of employees or closing its doors altogether.

Whenever such stories broke, we would try to interview the company's employees and leaders, if they decided to talk to the media. We listened to their stories and reported on their pain and confusion.

But I don't think I ever really understood how such stories affected the people and companies involved. Don't get me wrong: I always felt sympathy for those who lost their jobs and imagined the horrible plight in which they found themselves. But in my relatively short work experience, I never worked for a company that had to cut a significant percentage of its jobs.

Until now.

As has been well-documented in this publication, the newspaper industry is struggling. Classified advertising is drying up as people opt to use free online services to sell their cars and lightly used exercise equipment. Circulation numbers are falling as people choose to get their news online instead of from newspapers.

It's a scary time to be a journalist — even at the Deseret News.

A few weeks ago, while I was driving between Dallas and Houston on a family vacation, a colleague at the News called to let me know our management had announced we needed to cut about 35 jobs and restructure our newspaper in order to deal with falling revenues.

I had known the cuts were coming. Rumors had been floating around for weeks, and everyone was trying to sort out the information (we are a bunch of journalists, after all). But knowing it was official still came as a shock.

I was gone for the first week and a half after the cuts were announced. I can't imagine what the atmosphere was like during those first days.

But since I've been back, the environment is different.

Employees gather in small groups, talking about the situation, wondering who will opt for early retirement or volunteer to take a severance package.

Those who are planning to opt for severance talk about the details of what has been offered and their attempts to get accurate information so they can prepare for a future away from the News.

Some of those people have been at the paper for 20, 25 or 30-plus years. They weren't planning to retire just yet. All of a sudden, they are faced with deciding in a matter of weeks something they didn't think they would have to think about for years to come. They are nervous. They are anxious.