Journalism comes calling, again

It's like an old, trusted friend. Or, a jilted girlfriend (or wife) who keeps coming back.

For a long while there, I had a pretty good string going on in journalism. I had been employed continuously for nearly 10 years in newspaper journalism.

Then, in the first week of October, I got dropped.

Since then, my interest in journalism has been more of one of two kinds: my seemingly insatiable appetite for newspaper-driven news chiefly, and news in general. I read probably three to six newspapers a day online, and I've walked a mile to get hard copies of my hometown newspaper since I was let go from my last newspaper gig. I can't seem to start a day without a newspaper, it seems, even if that's so 1959 than 2009.

My second interest has been voyeuristic in nature: I read a lot of the trade journals on line, and a bunch of blogs.

I do scan journalism job boards these days, even if jobs in the field (especially newspapers) are as rare as finding a replacement automatic transmission for the old Ford Edsel parked in the driveway.

But I'm not working right now. So I searched out an old acquaintance of mine via Facebook and asked if she needed help. Sure, she said. We pay peanuts, but yes, we're always looking.

So as soon as next week, I'm going to start doing some freelance work for the paper I grew up reading, and at one point dreamed of working there before working in newspapers became as glamorous as being the guy screwing caps on toothpaste tubes.

In truth, I am looking forward to writing. It's something I know how to do (I think) and the work I'll be doing will be more easy for me, more like cotton candy than trying to decipher the second law of thermodynamics.

I've told them this is not a long-term engagement, that I desire to return to my wife and children soon, and that I'm just trying to earn some cash. I figure this keeps whatever skills I have sharp, and I'll be earning some money in the process. It's not ultimately what I want, but I certainly am not going to turn down an opportunity to provide the publication with some quality copy or fill my pockets with meager money. I have to be grateful for that.

I never disliked journalism, really. She was always the pretty girl with whom there was limitless potential. With this gig, we're setting the bar fairly low on expectations.

And doing our best to keep our eyes out for anyone (or thing) that might offer us more.