And it’s one, two, three, what are we writing for?

Eric Deggans’ column from the St. Pete Times will have you wondering even more.
According to Deggans, the Tampa Tribune – the Time’s competition across the way – is seriously considering a one-section paper for weekdays. Read all about it here.

Blogger Doug Fisher, of Common Sense Journalism, takes the story even further. He claims prototypes have been circulating around the Tribune’s newsroom.

Thanks to Jim Romenesko, at www.poynter.org for publishing these links.

If you’re a writer – like me – I have to say learning Photoshop looks like a great career move right about now.

Your day job doesn’t have to be your only job

I wouldn’t have written that headline about 8 years ago, when I was a full-time reporter in Cleveland, Ohio. If you’d asked me, I’d have said “Oh, I have one job. I’m a columnist.” The truth was, I had two jobs. I was a pianist at a church.

Don’t laugh at that gig. It gave me an extra $400 a month. But I didn’t take it seriously because it was my play job. My real job was filling the news hole at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

I was thinking like an employee, not as an entrepreneur.

If I’d been thinking like an entrepreneur, I’d have realized I had a platform and taken advantage of it. I’d have published a collection of my columns, and recorded a CD of my compositions. In other words, I’d have used my job(s) to create another stream of revenue.

I took 8 years to develop an entrepreneurial mentality; self-employment hastened the shift. These days, though, every working person needs to think of  her/his career as business. Those of us in journalism are peering into a dark future. Newspapers and magazines are  cutting back as advertising diminishes. Employees – whether full-time, part-time or freelance – are expendable. Thinking like an entrepreneur is no longer a luxury. It’s a survival strategy.

That’s not my opinion. I’m quoting the advice of Joe Grimm, the innovative recruiter who just left the Detroit Free Press.

In 2007, I attended a conference where Grimm gave a presentation to mid-career journalists. He stressed the need to be entrepreneurial, to go for the essential job.  If you wonder what that means, take a look at his career.

Back in the 1990s, when print was still king, he was prescient enough to set up a website offering career advice.  That move expanded and reinforced his status as an expert – and brought lots of attention to his employer, the late Knight-Ridder.

In 2003, he began writing a career-advice column for the Poynter Institute. Five years later, he’s using that content to publish a book.

BTW, Grimm gave the audience another piece of advice: Don’t think that delay adds to quality.

That’s why this post is being published tonight.

Why I created this blog…

Logo for Martin Gee's group, "Newspaper Escape Plan"

I have to credit Martin Gee and his Facebook group “Newspaper Escape Plan.”

Gee was downsized, riffed, etc. from his job as a designer for the San Jose, Ca., newspaper. He put his creativity and passion to use by creating the aforementioned group on August 16. It now has more than 800 members. I was, I think, member 252 or something like that.

Now,  I’m not Internet phobic. I know my way around a blog or two. I’ve even blogged professionally on health for www.bet.com.

That group is a graphic demonstration of the power of Web 2.0. Just as an experiment, I posted an FYI on mediabistro.com.  So far, 26 people have launched a discussion about the demise of newspapers.

I’m following Martin’s lead. I’m trying to be proactive.

Everyone is talking about reinventing themselves. Well, I’ve been working on that since I left newspapers in 2001.  It’s been a long hard climb.  Sometimes I’ve stumbled. Sometimes I’ve fallen.  The truth of my life is in the title of this blog.  Still, I think I have advice and insights to offer folks who are traveling this path.

We’re doing our best. It’s all we can do.

When you get discouraged, remember this:

“Just because you can’t see the future is no reason to fear it. I ain’t gonna lie though:  it’s awfully dark out there. “