If I had come along (and written) another day...

I think I could've been a decent writer if I had come along a decade or two sooner, back when newspapers actually had editors and there was a path to moving on to bigger shops. I started and stayed at small papers and just had to figure it out, never once having a sports editor.

Of course, going into newspapers was my first mistake (college grad in 1998). That and/or my imposter syndrome. Goes hand in hand. I was - and still am - terrible at networking.

I have a few weeks out of the year when I get to cover gamers (golf, actually; I've been a comms guy for 13 years since papers), and I enjoy it and stretch out a little. And there are times I like what I write and wonder, "What if?" And I wonder how fulfilling it might feel to have someone say I was a good writer (this post notwithstanding).

Does anyone else get this?

 

Everyone wants, and even needs, some positive feedback -- a sense that they're doing what they should be doing in life.

What you describe is among the most coveted ways to get such validation. So, yeah, I get it.

(In my opinion, you already are a decent writer. Your posts show it, and, more than likely, you would never have even been hired into the newspaper business if you weren't at least a decent writer. And probably way better than that).

 

If I had been connected/motivated in high school to have gone to an Ivy League school...I KNOW I would be on Washington Week every week as a guest panelist.

 

In another life you might have been a genius
In another life you might have been a star
In another life your face might have been perfect
In another life you drive a better car

In another life all your jokes are funny
In another life your heart is free from fear
In another life you make a lot of money
In this other life everything is clear

In another life you're always the hero
In another life you always win the game
In another life no one ever cheats you
In another life you never have to change

In another life your friends never desert you
In another life you never have to cry
In another life no one ever hurts you
In this other life your loved ones never die

But this is the life you have
This is the life you have
This is the life you have
This is the life

In another life you're always the victim
In another life you're always the thief
In another life you are always lonely
In this other life there is no relief

In your real life treat it like it's special
In your real life try to be more kind
In your real life think of those that love you
In this real life try to be less blind

This is the life you have.

 

I have a different response to this thought in 2023 than I would have in 2018, for instance.

I'm similar to you, graduated college in 1997, started at a tiny newspaper, moved eventually to a mid-sized daily with hopes of finally reaching at least a small metro paper. Those opportunities really started to dry up once I was ready to make those moves, unfortunately. When I chose to leave the business altogether in 2015, I had some regrets, especially over the wasted time I had spent without any real career or financial advancement. Then again, my experience helped me get into my current job today. As my boss noted, I'm our golf association's "journalist," a role that no one else here really knows how to accomplish. So I was able to find a niche. And I've had some great writing mentors along the way, so I don't regret making those connections.

Any regrets I have over my 20 years in newspapers have evaporated considering the current state of the industry, which we all know is crumbling and irrevocably broken. Even if I had broken through to that small metro, I probably would have been laid off by now and would be searching for any sort of gig that utilizes my skillset. I'm lucky to have found the job I have now, one where there are multiple opportunities for growth outside of just my specific job description.

 

"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."

Ol' Satch was pretty smart.

 

If I had started in an earlier era or done my career the “right” way (gone to school, interned, learned to network) I’d have gone further than I did but I was never going to be an elite writer. But I like to think I could have gotten pretty far in copy editing before the market for it died.

I do occasionally have pangs of regret where I think about how much differently I would have done things at my first small-town papers with the things I know now. But not enough regret to want to go work for another one.

 

After not having pro baseball for almost 10 years, Buffalo got a team in the Eastern League for 1979, the old Jersey City franchise. I was 24 and living in North Nowhere. Never even thought about moving back and trying to get in on the ground floor, even as a go-fer for $200 or $250 a week.

One move I might try, in retrospect, if I could go back in time: At least send them a letter or cold call at the office when I was home for Christmas. It was a shoe-string organization, always on the edge of bankruptcy, until Bob Rich jr. bought the team in 1982 or 83 and turned it into one of the best franchises in MiLB.

 

I wish I sucked up to editors more, was more ambitious and quit waiting around for them to "discover" what a great writer I was. Honestly, I had an editor come in who allowed us to submit stuff for a contest (the previous editor tended to pick and choose stuff he was personally involved with, reporters he supervised, Sunday package type deals) - felt kind of good to win a statewide award, suddenly editors treated me better. I honestly think a lot of editors never actually read the paper - they are so invested in the bark on the tree, they never see the forest. With my skill set, I would have been a great columnist. Not a "This is what I think" type columnist, but a "You should know about this" type columnist.

 

I'll have more to add here since my original post, and I appreciate the responses very much.

For now, I'll say I feel like I had a good writing day, and I'm proud of the gamer I posted today. I feel better tonight.

 

That's a great feeling, when you read your story and know you did a solid day's work.

I could write the shit out of a gamer and notes package. Features were not my strongpoint, that was for the magazine writers who took 2-3 days to grind out 1500 words of schlock. I hit a lot of singles and doubles, a few triples, and the occasional homer. But it was always readable. I was more of a Hemingway style than a Wolfe, and NFW would I try Faulkner.

I still enjoy it when the boss sends me a text saying my website wrapup was good.

 

I'm proud of what I wrote today. Covered three hours of a golf event, but it was the two minutes that were the story. Have heard good things from other writers, even those I don't know. Today was good for my soul.

When you you read something you like and can tell the writer...tell him or her.