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What, you don't want to date 40 reality-show rejects?
It's a setback from where you were, but it won't prevent you from growing. Working a job does take away from writing time, but you can still make do with the resources you have.
For one thing, you have contacts established. Using ******* was exceptionally creative -- though it's always important to be sure you're really talking to the actual source -- and you know people from when you had better proximity.
The important thing is to keep writing and to find a unique voice, but at the same time you need to read others' articles -- not just boxing articles, but a healthy dose of all sorts of journalism -- in order to soak yourself in format and style, paying attention to what questions were answered in their reporting and what makes their works stand out. Then you need to find what works for you and what is you.
It's a small thing, but if you get a chance, pick up an AP Stylebook from your local library and just browse through it. Text looks crisper and more professional when it's in AP style.
And even with all that, it's next to impossible to write for a living. Even professional newspaper journalists aren't paid especially well.
With all this being said, your last column was probably your best yet.
Moving upstate has made the whole experience of being a writer almost unmanageable. I haven't been able to do much of anything up here like I was able to in New Jersey. There is no fight scene up here and now with me working at the hotel I'm employed with, my schedule has taken away any leisure time to take the 2 hr train ride to New York City. I've only been able to manage interviews because my laptop was stolen on my last day of work in New Jersey. It's tough being an improvised reporter without a college degree and being dead broke. I'd love one day to write for a living, but I know that's many lifetimes away from Main Street, Poughkeepsie.
For one thing, you have contacts established. Using ******* was exceptionally creative -- though it's always important to be sure you're really talking to the actual source -- and you know people from when you had better proximity.
The important thing is to keep writing and to find a unique voice, but at the same time you need to read others' articles -- not just boxing articles, but a healthy dose of all sorts of journalism -- in order to soak yourself in format and style, paying attention to what questions were answered in their reporting and what makes their works stand out. Then you need to find what works for you and what is you.
It's a small thing, but if you get a chance, pick up an AP Stylebook from your local library and just browse through it. Text looks crisper and more professional when it's in AP style.
And even with all that, it's next to impossible to write for a living. Even professional newspaper journalists aren't paid especially well.
With all this being said, your last column was probably your best yet.
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