I opened a Substrack account this past week after a former columnist for the Des Moines Register encouraged me to do so. We both use it to build a brand.
I have been reluctant to embrace blogging. I initially saw many bloggers as wannabes who were the equivalent of musicians who play on street corners for tips because they are not good enough to get gigs in clubs. I think my perception changed after thousands of jobs in my former industry—journalism—vanished. Unemployed journalists took up blogging to keep their minds and skills active, and possibly earn extra money while searching for new opportunities.
I chose my debut blog to submit the first chapter to promote a first novel in the works. I have had ambitions to be a writer since childhood. That is why I chose journalism as a major in college and entered the field. And while I did not realize my lofty ambitions, I found being a reporter a good way to hone writing skills and build character.
Forty-two years ago, I asked a former college roommate what he thought I would be doing in 10 years. Autographing books, he said.
That did not happen. About 15 years ago, a small-town mayor, who is now president of the Arizona State Senate, suggested writing books after reading some of my columns.
More recently, after I penned my final column for the Longview News-Journal in East Texas this past July, a reader sent me an email in which he wished me well and stated, “One more thought: reading about some of your experiences made me think you should write a book. You probably have enough material for several. I, for one, would be very interested in reading it.”
The writer is correct. I have had a wealth of experiences. Anyone who works in a newsroom who has not had interesting experiences and stories to tell needs to make a career change.
It has been said journalists have a front-row seat to view history. Another cliché is we know where the bodies are buried. We gain keen insight into human nature and develop a feel for dialogue, tools for fostering good writing.
A lot of my experiences during four decades as a community journalist can inspire material for a novel. And not just what took place in the field while covering stories. I could write a separate essay about colorful and sometimes comical experiences that took place within newspaper offices.
Now free from the deadline pressure, stress, office politics and occasional toxic work environments, I am trying a second act as a novelist. I would not be the first former or retired reporter to do so. Over the years, a number of journalists have transformed themselves into authors. William Dietrich, who shared a Pulitzer for covering the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, wrote 10 years ago on Nieman Reports that the list of journalist-turned-authors is legion, and includes Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, Joan Didion, Carl Hiassen, Susan Sontag and Michael Connelly. I’ll add Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Tony Hillerman and Jon Talton to the list. But to the best of my knowledge, Hemingway is the only aforementioned author who created a journalist as a central character.
The novel I am working on will focus on the experiences of a reporter working in a small, desert town—not bright lights, big city. Some of my former colleagues have written novels. They self-published and sales have been slim. Their experiences have not been encouraging.
I hope to defy the odds that an obscure writer faces. Wish me luck.
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