Keeping Your Columnist Voice Alive

By Dave Lieber
NSNC Education Foundation Secretary  

Dave Lieber

Dave Lieber

   Every day seems more dire than the last. Layoffs. Buyouts. Farewell e-mails to the entire staff that break your heart.   

 

   For you, the columnist, the world is changing in a rush of history. A collision of forces beyond your control.
 
   Yet a columnist’s dreams do not end with a separation package, a lump sum payout. Rather, the dreams must be reframed. Now.
   My joint program with Suzette Standring for the June 25-28 conference in Ventura has been revamped. Early promos called it “A Blueprint for Your Best Column Writing Year.” Sounds so 1999.
   Now, instead, we will zag and talk about how to deal with loss of voice and venue.
   Whether you are hanging on, recently retired, lost your job — or fear you will — we can help you plot your next moves. You can keep your columnist voice alive — without a column. And you can earn a living doing so.
   Even without a print column, there are still ways to be a big voice in your community.  If you are no longer a newspaper person, then you already are evolving toward the next step on the human communications chain: an “information entrepreneur.” Nobody has a better background for that than you.

   We¹ll show you how to become a force in your own area of expertise. Create a business personality with your own brand and even create your own company. You’ll apply New Media to keep your name out, alive and fresh with new ideas. You’ll use your writing and other communication skills to keep a strong presence near center stage.

   We know how difficult it is to begin to think differently. But to stay alive as a communicator, you learn to think more like a business person, while at the same time nourishing your creative spirit like never before.

   Your writer¹s muse has brought you this far. Now it¹s time to expand your expertise into speaking, training, editing, consulting, leadership. You can create books, CD¹s, manuals and even training programs that allow you to help others solve problems in their life.

   You do have strong skills that other people need. And they are transferable.

   You can make people better, and you can show others how much you care. You can do what you did as a columnist and do it better.

   Columnists have the upper hand.  We are nimble, funny when we have to be and responsive.  We meet deadlines and are ever on the lookout for something fresh.

   Our field is in the midst of an evolution, but we can work things to our advantage. Many of us remain connected to newsrooms, be they local, national or digital. Through publications, web sites, blogs, Social Media and old-fashioned, in-person meetings, we are positioned to keep our writing voices alive.

   Your personality, your writing personality, remains interesting. Your audience still cares.

   Suzette and I are working hard on ways to show you how to use your strengths to secure your future. The new focus for our Ventura workshop is this:

   “Keeping Your Columnist Voice Alive for What¹s Next.”

   If you¹re on the fence about coming to Ventura, but you¹re intrigued about the above, then please join us. Our workshop is an hour but our discussions and learning about the above will go on for three days.

   This is an investment in your future. We¹ll help you with dollars-and-sense ideas figure out what you want to be when you grow up.

   Because grownup time is now.

Contact: mailto:dave@yankeecowboy.com | www.YankeeCowboy.com | 1-800-557-8166


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