Dear Friends,
This one’s ‘all about me’, though some might suggest that I’m always all about me. I would have to, as a matter of my personal philosophy, agree.
I consider you a friend because you are reading this column. Perhaps you just happened to stumble upon it, and I’m over-reaching our relationship. Otherwise, you are actually interested in what I might have to contribute - I consider that one of the most precious levels of friendship.
This is my anniversary column. The Castanet editor chose to include my column on this incredible electronic newspaper, with the first publication approximately one year ago, on January 10, 2014. It is also, coincidentally, an anniversary of the beginning of my column writing efforts in the local hard copy newspaper. The yellowed newsprint framed in my office was published in the Westside section of the Capital News approximately nine years ago on January 7, 2007.
I am thankful to a dear friend of mine who, at the time, was an advertising consultant with the newspaper. She invited me to draft a handful of columns for the editor’s consideration. Ironically, she later started writing her own column, On a Brighter Note, quickly becoming a much more widely read columnist than I. Thank you, Lori Welbourne.
I am also thankful to the editors of the Capital News, then Castanet, who have considered my column worthwhile to publish.
My deepest thanks, though, is to my wife, Terri. I qualify for that ugly label ‘workaholic’, which means I spend entirely too much time working, and too little time with those who love me. I face a deadline every week to submit my column. Many (most?) weeks I’m whining, with a souring mood, about needing a column topic. Terri always comes up with good ideas, which I regularly reject in favour of something else that ‘moves me’. She then reads my draft, offering her valuable feedback.
Nine years of columns at about 50 columns per year (I rarely miss, but it does happen) totals 450. I figure it takes me a couple hours for each column. That’s over five months of full-time (40 hours per week) ‘work’ that my wife has tolerated, adding to my workaholic time away from the family.
I do love it, though, and that’s why my wife tolerates it. I feel that I am making a useful contribution, and that feels good.
Without readers, my column would be empty words on a computer screen. Yes, I thank you, too, for your interest in what translates from my brain to the keyboard on a weekly basis.
I have a request, friends. My father, Al, himself a former columnist decades ago with a Catholic newspaper, The Prairie Messenger, warned me not to expect much feedback. It was a wise warning, as feedback has indeed been very few and far between.
Those of you who have invested your time to read my column on a regular basis, I would very much appreciate if you could please provide your feedback to assist in pointing me in the right direction as I enter my second year with Castanet, and my 10th year as a columnist.
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.