Shallow | Center

Will Write for Food

A Year In, Assessing the Big Professional Move and Recommitting to What I Want to Do

It was just about a year ago that I bade farewell to The Man and went into business for myself. It turned out to be a terrific decision both professionally and personally. I love my work, I've met awesome clients, I get to see more of my family than I ever have before, and being in charge of my own shit has been incredibly fulfilling.

I set a dollar goal in a business plan I had drawn up, and I've surpassed that goal by a fair amount. I'm never lacking for work. The downside is that most of my jobs are short-term, smaller projects, so I'm hoping that in the new year I can start successfully pitching stories to mainstream magazines. That kidn of larger-scale work will allow me to stretch as a reporter and writer and, I hope, give me even more flexibility to do the kinds of things I targeted when I started this enterprise in the first place. Things like writing a book. Blogging more. Getting my ass in shape. Being a better father and husband. 

Feline Conversation

AN INTERESTING aspect of my new venture is that when I need to block out online distractions and just get some writing done, I can head  to the nearest Starbucks. There, I'm able to grab a good cup of coffee and, more importantly, avoid e-mail and the Web, since I can't bring myself to pay for Internet access outside my house. Whereas my previous coffeehouse experience was typically during the morning drive-time, when caffeine-starved professionals and college kids would snag their joe and scram on the double, now I plop myself down at all hours of the day and, in addition to work, people-watch and eavesdrop. (Yes, I realize this defeats the purpose of getting away from distractions.) Which is how I came to hear this gem today, courtesy a pair of middle-aged women discussing a piece in the Food section of this morning's Inquirer, one of whom said to the other, "There was an article in the paper today about two women who wrote a book about being thin. I hate them." (Insert obligatory meow reference here.)

Today Is the First Day of the Rest of My Career

NEW YEAR, new beginnings.

New job.

Writers write, yet as my career in higher education administration advanced, I found myself doing less writing and more, well, administering. Last summer, seeking to shake myself up, I left higher ed to take a job doing marketing and media relations for a law firm. As different as that scratch was, the itch remained. I came to realize that an even bigger change was necessary, and so at the end of 2006 I resigned my position to do something I had dreamed of for years.