Isn’t it amazing what you do?Isn’t it amazing that you can…
– Get an idea about something interesting and after you write about it, thousands of people know what’s on your mind.
– Get paid for that.
– Easily take high-quality photos to go with your column without having to hire a professional photographer.
– Use something called Google to do almost everything.
– Promote your stories freely in front of new audiences using social media platforms that didn’t exist until recently.
– Spot something that’s wrong, write about it, and it gets fixed.
– Win awards that get written about in newspapers. Who else has that easy promotion?
– Make your readers laugh.
– Make your readers cry.
– Make your readers think.
– Write books and get them printed.
– Say “not me” when someone accuses the media of sharing “fake news.”
– Speak to a group, and its members feel as if they know you because they’ve been reading you for years.
– Get recognized every so often by a reader in the grocery store.
– Write something and then it can get quoted in other news media, giving your views even greater sway.
– Meet some of your favorite writers by attending an NSNC conference.
– Stand up to bullies and win.
– Help people solve problems when they have nowhere else to turn.
– Always count on readers to react. Just check your IN box.
– Do great work, but you’re still not sure if you’re going to have your job tomorrow.
– Tell people you’re a writer when they ask what you do.
– Practice the treasured American right of freedom of speech every day and not worry about the police knocking down your door.
– Belong to a group that started 41 years ago and still has the words “newspaper columnist” in its name (even if there aren’t many of us left).
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Dave Lieber is The Watchdog investigative columnist for The Dallas Morning News. DaveLieber.org @DaveLieber .