Well today is my 58th birthday, and I celebrate it by starting a new job - Im going to the managing editor of The Clarksville Times, the paper in Clarksville, Texas, in Red River County. Im going back to work for the people I worked for, for seven years before the Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune was sold to a corporation. There are a number of positive things about the change. I dont have to move, I will be able to commute. In fact, after all these years of having to be circumspect because of living and working in the same city, I can become a regular citizen and taxpayer in my hometown. I can get involved in some things I couldnt before. Going from working for a newspaper owned by a corporation to one locally owned will be a great improvement in working conditions and hours. Many, many years ago, I told a friend of mine - after having both worked for a corporation-owned paper versus local ownership - that when the day comes I would entitle my autobiography I Escaped From a Newspaper Chain Gang. The change in schedule, going from a daily to a weekly, will enable me to spend more time on my fiction writing. After I was bounced from my previous job at he end of last week, I spent a nice 45 minutes chatting and getting caught up with Joe Lansdale Saturday. We talked about many things, but his parting observation was You need to write a novel. In fact, I got a start on it yesterday, 3821 words. Its an alternate history set on a Mars colony thirty years ago, with the working title of 1985. Another plus is that Im free to pursue free lance opportunities. A magazine editor in Dallas wants to talk to me about doing some work for her. I may meet with her before the end of the week. Im proud I hung in with my old job as long as I did - since July 2007. In the end, since wouldnt walk the plank for the corporation, they had to throw me overboard. Its their loss, I say. Thanks for all the birthday greetings, too!
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 12:47:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015