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About this series: I revisited my journals from my early years as a freelance writer and found they told a story of their own. In this series I get the rare opportunity to give myself and other writers career advice with nearly 50 years of hindsight. Enjoy!

My first year after setting off to seek my fortune was drawing to a close. I hadn’t quite succeeded as a freelance writer, but as a newly minted newspaperman, I measured my success through my bank account:

A quick run down to Hanover today allowed me to see + talk with a few buddies still in Hanover; also, I bought Christmas cards (to benefit the Hop Shop) and did some banking. By the end of the year, I will have the same bank balances I had when I first got here early in 1979 — pretty good, when you consider I wasn’t doing much at all for about half the year — and that I bought a $200 bike, $145 of ski equipment, and the like. I survived!

Work today was, as usual, too long, although I did come in late. I agonized over the New American Revolution piece, but I think it came out all right. …

Journal, Volume III
8 December 1979

Then, a few days later:

A few thoughts today:

1. Re: sending Christmas cards to the hostages in Iran. I’m tempted, but I fear it will do no good. What about sending a “peace on Earth to Men of Goodwill” card to the captors?
2. I’m doing a damned good job as writer/editor. But will I have the same staff problems I did with Execs? God, I hope not!
3. When I have a year’s expenses stored away (or when I return home) I’d like to dig in on my fiction. Even the contemporary stories could be good retrospective pieces in 10 years.

Oh, well. Life goes on.

Journal, Volume III
14 December 1979

Although this post is mostly about that third point, the first two deserve some context.

First: Yes, even then we had trouble in the Mideast. We were barely a month into the Iran Hostage Crisis, in which militant Iranian college students stormed the American Embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage. Earlier in 1979, the Iranian Revolution ousted the Shah, who fled to the United States, and in December it established a new constitution creating today’s Islamic republic. The hostages were freed after 444 days, on President Jimmy Carter’s last day in office before Ronald Reagan’s inauguration. Many of the conflicts between the U.S. and Iran date to 1979.

Second: I surprised myself a leader, both at the newspaper and, previously, as president of Phi Tau Fraternity at Dartmouth. One of the most difficult times of my tenure there was when its executive board fractured — over what, I don’t recall — and I had to pick up the pieces with the help of a handful of devoted friends. Given the tensions of running a newspaper, I could see that as a looming threat.

Finally: In all my professional life, I never did get to the point where I had enough money to cover expenses for a year so I could devote myself to writing — at least, not until retirement. I thought the material I was writing at the time might hold up after 10 years.

But what about after 44 years? You tell me. Please feel free to use the comments below.