It's hard to believe, but it has been two years to the day that I started "Free From Editors" with this post. On December 1st it will be a full two years that I retired from the reporting job I truly loved.
For me, and most writers, we have to write. It's not an option, it's how we breathe and live. So whether or not I get paid for it, I will always have a desire to write. Some people like talking on the phone, others like to sit on a bar stool and talk, but for a writer there is simply only one satisfying, and sometimes frustrating outlet, and that is at a keyboard.
Most writers knew from early on that writing was in their blood. My stepdaughter Elin has a gift and I hope she continues pursuing it. I'm the lucky one who gets to read the chapter proofs of her novel.
Most newspaper reporters will get what I'm going to talk about next.
While some people have a gift for writing, others of us, me included, have to work at that part. I liked writing, but it was work. Finding the right word, phrase, or proper organization was always difficult for me. For others it came easy.
Others have a different gift, the one that endears you to sources, gets them to tell you things they are not supposed to tell you and then lead you to others who will flesh out a story. If I had a gift, it was in this area. People found it easy to tell me things and they trusted me to tell it honestly and straight.
While I sometimes failed, it was not because I didn't try. And I proudly can say I never betrayed a confidence, not even to a demanding editor. I have scrapped stories rather than reveal a source, even to my editor. I always felt a promise, was a promise.
When certain editors demanded I give them source cellphone or contact phone numbers, I ignored them. I didn't tell them I was ignoring them, but I did ignore them. I wasn't sharing those hard won numbers with anyone.
Good editors didn't ask, the bad ones weren't smart enough to figure out that the numbers that I did supply them were the same numbers they could have gotten themselves - out of a phone book.
The dirty little secret is that reporters are often lone wolves, which is an apt description on a number of levels, and good editors honored them by turning them loose to hunt. Bad editors tried - and mostly failed - to domesticate and leash them, which is frankly impossible.
So while I admit to pretending to go along with some editor stupidity during my last few years, I did so just to survive and when I was out of eye and earshot, I returned to the wild.
This blog has had a pretty narrow focus, although I occasionally stray into non-journalism areas, and therefore a pretty narrow readership, about 22,000 different individuals have stopped by.
On any given day there will be between 350-500 people stopping by to check in. On my highest day, the day last March I broke the news about the Flint Journal, Bay City Times and Saginaw News dumping the daily product for the three-day-a-week product, more than 2,000 individuals stopped by during a 24-hour period.
Ultimately, this is my blog and so far it has earned me $29.42 in ad revenue and nothing else. But it has kept me writing and for that I'm grateful. To the extent that some of you enjoy the blog, I get pleasure from that. And thanks to all of you for stopping by and being part of the conversation, even when it was to disagree.
Hopefully, we'll keep on, keeping on.
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18 comments:
Happy two years, Jim!
I can connect with a lot of what you wrote in this post! :)
Congratulations on the two year mark. I just started a few months ago myself, although I've set mine up as more of a constant series of opinions on issues near to me regardless of topic. I do a lot of publishing industry stuff, but its interspersed with sports, movies and whatever else strikes me as interesting at the moment. I can definitely relate to your comments about good editors letting reporters have the freedom to do the job. I am one of those people who had a natural writing ability but fell into an editor's position because I could make more money. I was lucky, though, that I started in a place where I wasn't really subjected to any kind of industry indoctrination, so I basically learned on the job with almost total freedom. Didn't appreciate it until it was gone, though, primarily because I didn't know any better at the time. I've always believed that the only way to do the job is to let good people have the freedom to work as they see fit, whether they are writers, designers, sales people or whatever. I hate micro-managing and control freaks, so I've never been that and never will be. I'm actually having trouble with my most recent job because the person I'm supposed to answer to is one of those control freaks who has to stick themselves into every little decision about everything. I just want to be left alone to do the job. I just wanted to say congrats, and let you know that there are editors out here, too, who are just looking for a little freedom.
Thanks Krystal. I miss those days we roamed the "wild" Lapeer County beat together.
For you moms out there, check out Krystal's blog (click on her name). Krystal has gone from newspaper reporter (she still writes a column in the local weekly newspaper) to Mom/blogger.
I'd read more, but it is geared more for women than men, although I do find some of the insights, particularly insightful.
Dan, thanks for the comments and I briefly stopped over on your blog (have to go to work this morning) but will return and dive in a little more deeply later.
Some people misunderstand the title of this blog. Free From Editors was never meant to imply that writers and reporters don't need editors. They just need good ones and the supply is limited.
Glad to hear that you get it.
Congrats. I bet $29 is more than the "community contributors" at AA.com are getting. Free coffee and wireless on a couch, though.
The funny thing is I never appreciated what good editors I had worked for in the past until I landed at a Booth paper. With a few rare exceptions, most were spineless jellyfish who were too worried if a reader - or god forbid - an advertiser was in a snit.
Jim,
Congratulations on your two year milestone. I thoroughly enjoy your blog and enjoyed working with you during your stint at The Oakland Press. You were one of, if not the best reporters we've ever had. Salute!!
Blushing.....
You truly made life at the OP more fun than you would have expected from a place where the publisher squeezed quarters so hard that they could be heard screaming from the second-floor newsroom.
Congratulations from a loyal reader. I still don't know what the journalism world will look like in the future, but I know that blogs like this one are filling a void. Thanks for all the hard work.
And you sure made more than I ever did with google ads!
Gordon, Actually the ad money is only on paper, as you may know, you don't get a check until the amount reaches $100, so I've got a few years to wait.
Thanks for stopping by.
Maybe you can add a Paypal link where readers can make donations. Seriously. I would donate (not much, but it would push you over the $30 mark).
I notice a lot of sarcasm on this blog about the lack of Internet income, specifically Google Adsense income. Granted, it can be rough sledding sometimes. But, just like journalism, there is an art to making money with Adsense and other models such as Pay Per Click advertising (Google Adwords). The good news is there's a wealth of material on these topics -- some of it good, some bad -- just like the FJ's traditional Thanksgiving Day paper! Jim, you'be been blogging for two years, to your credit. But I would challenge you to more fully educate yourself about some major Internet marketing topics. It's your blog, take ownership of its marketing. Do a Google search for the keywords adsense and/or adwords and check out the millions of results. No time for all of that? Here's a recommended Adsense product: Adsense Prosperity System
Christie:
I appreciate the thought, but really I don't do this for money, but because I love writing.
Jim
Thats a long time dad. Im proud of you! You are a real hero of mine, not only because your my father but because you trained me well. Ms. Taylor says Hello.
Atta guy, James L. Keep it going for many years to come.
Speaking as one of those former pain-in-the-posterior editors, I am glad you continue to write. Because you just keep getting better and better. Congrats on two years!
You are probably the editor I feel the most guilt about.
You took more beatings for me that a Mike Tyson sparring partner. For all the times I was a miserable, unsufferable pain-in-the-butt, I sincerely apologize.
You had the hardest crew to manage, but we all respected you and were grateful that you were our editor and not, well, others.
Let's do lunch soon.
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