This week I continued to share and comment on my journal entries from my first year as a freelancer, showing the move from independent contractor to newspaper reporter.
I abandoned my attempts to post each entry on the anniversary of the original date. Instead I’ll continue to make these entries chronological and try to catch up, but we’re still behind the cycle by nearly a month.
Back-posting the newest entries to match the dates on the journal meant they did not rise to the top of the home page. Worse, they were practically invisible in WordPress Reader, through which about half the visitors find this site. I experimented with this for about a week. Despite a sticky post at the top of the page and several other hints, readers still weren’t finding the newest stories. They are now.
I’ll continue to work on these posts over the coming weeks in an attempt to catch up. Blog posts are quick turnaround projects that I can do in an hour or so.
In contrast, working on larger projects like a book requires concentration. I am continuing on the bubble wrap history, but I ran into a part where I appear to be covering the same material twice. I need to step away from the project for a bit so I can figure out where I am. Fortunately, it will be a couple of weeks before I can dedicate whole days to this project. By then I should be ready.
In case you missed it …
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Journeyman Journalist, 1979: A little gossip
Reading Time: 2 minutes Opportunity knocked once, then knocked a little harder. And then it just shrugged and walked away. Was it more than just gossip?
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Journeyman Journalist, 1979: A pain in the a**
Reading Time: 2 minutes Procrastination is seldom fatal, but that’s not a certainty. A heart condition, cancer, a serious infection — can be deadly.
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Journeyman Journalist, 1979: Giving thanks
Reading Time: 2 minutes One thing that’s still unchanged: My worries are really blessings. That’s good advice from a 24-year-old to himself a half-century later.
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Journeyman Journalist, 1979: Breathing easier
Reading Time: 2 minutes Smoke-free workplaces are far more common, even public policy, thanks to 50 years of the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout.