Writing anything except for school held no interest for me, either. I never wrote for the local newspaper. Never helped edit the high school yearbook. Nonetheless, I wanted to become a foreign news correspondent. However, at the University of Missouri, I nearly flunked out of News 101, saved only by my feature story published in the back pages of the Sunday magazine section of the Columbia Missourian. Later I self-funded study in England and then came to Madison for a graduate assistantship in agricultural journalism and environmental studies.
That was the mid-Seventies. My two-year terminal master’s degree stretched to three years, then more as I tried to wrap up a book-length thesis. To pay for those final years, I worked for the Wisconsin Legislative Council as a reporter on environment and land use issues. The MS in Agricultural Journalism got me into the Peace Corps and off to Malaysia, where I stayed to work on a private contract in ag extension communications. Returning to the States in the early Eighties, I found a job as an international ag journalist.
Also, I discovered I was a better editor than writer. During a 25-year career editing international ag trade magazines, I visited farms and facilities in 40 countries. Ag editing raised a family and paid most of the bills. Recently I changed jobs and am no longer editing, although I continue to work in the ag publishing field.
Reading a good story still makes me snort with wonder: How did the author do that so well? To find out for myself, I’m writing an adolescent adventure novel: A boy, a river, and the strange fish that almost got away. I really appreciate the help of Tuesdays With Story members!
