As time goes by
When this newspaper column began in 2014, my wife asked me a question.
Wife: “How long do you intend to write this column?”
Me: “Oh, I don’t know. I guess I’ll write 500 of them and then hang it up.
This column is number 500.
Isn’t it funny how you wind up where you are? You do what you do when most of the time you never intended to be doing it in the first place?
My first connection to print media was in high school. But I wasn’t a writer, I was a photographer.
I spent hours in the dark room winding film for our 35-millimeter cameras. Developing the film after we’d shot it, then making contact sheets for the editor to pick what she wanted to use in the school paper or annual. The final step was to print the selected photos. Then start the process all over again.
But not writing. Writing was for, well, writers.
I wasn’t considered a writer by others. But I thought of myself as one. Mrs. Trusley did too.
Mrs. Trusley was my senior English teacher. She kept me after class one day and told me that I had a gift for writing and that I should pursue it.
So, I eventually did. When I was 52.
Fear often keeps us from doing what we want. Fear of what other people think. Fear of whether we’ll fail. Fear of whether people will like us, or what we do.
A healthy fear of dangerous things is good. But fear of failure is worthless. You should never let fear stop you from doing things that are morally right and pleasing to yourself and others.
I wanted to write, but I worried too much about whether I’d succeed at it. So, I shelved my interest in writing for decades. Until someone encouraged me to try one of these newfound things called a blog.
I’ve shared this story before about writing a blog meant for my family, but a newspaper editor was also reading it, and that led to an invitation to turn it into a weekly newspaper column.
At first, I was hesitant. There’s a difference between writing something so that your family can read it, and writing something so that everyone’s family can read it.
I decided to accept the opportunity.
The column started out in one newspaper, but through word of mouth and other means, other papers decided they’d like to run it too. Today, it’s published in over 30 papers in three states.
What goes into writing a weekly column is different for each writer. So is the reason that each columnist became a columnist in the first place.
Often, the editor of the paper assigns a reporter to write a column on a regular basis, or reporters take turns filling the column space. But some, like myself, are syndicated.
Not everyone likes writing a column. Columns are opinions. Writing a news story with facts is different than putting your personal thoughts out there for the world to see and know.
A typical newspaper column might cover politics or sports or faith. Mine isn’t typical. It covers whatever comes into my head.
That’s how I write. I rarely think about a topic ahead of time. I sit down and just start writing.
When you write free form, time travel is possible. You can go back in your mind and visit places and people from your past. Locations that have changed or are gone, and folks you wish were still here.
It was the passage of time, and what happened around me as we all sailed through the years, that triggered me to write.
I’m not special, but those around me — my family and friends — are. And I want them to be remembered.
So, each week I find a focus. Something from yesterday that I pull into today. It might be a recipe, a friend, an event, or anything else. If you see it here, it’s because the person or the moment mattered.
When I go out on the speaker’s circuit, I talk about the importance of documenting who you are, so that those who come after you will know who you really were.
Each week, this space is around 800 words about something that comes to mind when I take a seat at the computer.
This week, what came to mind was my wife asking me how many of these I intended to write. The answer was 500.
Time to get to work on the next 500.