Don’t you just hate work? God knows I do. Shlumnbtrrrdsshit:
That’s what I think of work.
There’s a term for it in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). It’s called Work Aversion.
I was a lazy kid, I never did my school homework. But guess why. Because I was such a fukkin genius I didn’t need to do homework. I’m a master learner. I absorb and internalize boxes of information.
I’ve heard it said that Einstein was, besides a master physicist, a shiftless worker at his patent haus, where he worked for wages, sporadically, for survival. He had work aversion.
I want you to know I ain’t no slouch neither. I had a good, eclectic career in journalism. I got that because I went to grad school and came out with a masters degree in journalism, a Ba in political science and - the key - I went guerilla at finding editors who would pay me to write. I used to hang around the Writers Guild of Canada offices to get free coffee but, more importantly, to listen-in on office conversations. I bagged my major, and final newspaper job by eavesdropping on a phone call with an editor who was hiring. And it cost me nothing!
We have almost no big newspapers in Canada. They’ve all re-worked their business plans to go digital with a pay wall and they’ve gone mini on newsprint. Canada’s population is only just more than 40 million souls. How many of them read the news?
And in Canada how many universities do we have teaching journalism and graduating wannabe baby journalists? The answer: thirty-five. That’s roughly 1,750 fresh-faced young starry-eyed journalism grads annually, chasing around 150 new job openings annually. And don’t forget, every year the business shrinks a little bit more and yet the universities keep pumping out more grads!. It’s a losing game, chasing a newspaper career.
Newspaper journalism is no place for faint hearts in this country. IF you can find a job, will it still be there tomorrow after AI has moved into the newsrooms?
So hey, what does a smart, talented writer - but work averse- do to get a career?
I’m gonna tell ya’all how I did it and made damn good money doing it. Digging around for information and writing about the things I’ve discovered are things I’ve always done just for fun. In my high school years I was my small town’s top reporter. I flung the dung so often at my school’s principal that I actually spent a total of 30 weeks suspended from class. As if I cared!
And right now I’m getting that Big Lazy Feeling so I stop here.
I’ll come back later, when I feeeeeel like it, to tell you my stories about meeting McCartney, Baez, John and Yoko, two Trudeaus and various actors and dancers whilst “working.” I got around.
I joined Substack a year or something ago thinking of posting wonderful content like I was creating prolifically in 2011.
I had serial mini-careers over the years. My most frenetic writing period ran along with the G. W. Bush Whitehouse years. Have a peek at the links down below to see my deep dive, very active blog about the Bush presidency’s insane, outrageous and just plain criminal circus. ( At the time I figured America could never sink lower than Bush…WHO KNEW?…) This was a time when I was frantic with multiple writing gigs.
I don’t know how I got through those mad years, I was probably on drugs for most of it. OK so I smoked weed and dropped acid to keep my eyes open and my fingers typing. SO WHAT?
DRUGS ARE OUR FRIENDS
In the beginning I braved five years living the life of a freelance writer. I nearly starved. But those years of scarcity made me tough and hungry. I turned news media upside down looking for story assignments, and I landed some choice gigs: covering as freelance “press” the national conventions of the political parties, receiving “comp” tickets to see and review travelling Broadway shows, symphonies, operas and ballets. Backstage passes sometimes gave me opportunity to interview the performers. Rock stars were my favourites . I bagged a few big fish, McCartney being the biggest, for what it was worth. I found him a repellent egomaniac.
The links down below will take you to the Internet Archives, where deleted online content is captured and stored for posterity. Websites and blogs mostly are stored there. Chances are if you’ve run a notable blog or website since the 2000’s and killed them off, the Archive has your content saved in almost-total detail. Things that don’t archive well are ads, outside links and some HD graphics. I’m treating you to my archived super-blog on the G. W. Bush Whitehouse follies ( as seen from Canada - I bet you didn’t know that since a disastrous 2011 appearance in Surrey, B.C., George W. Bush has been a fugitive from Canadian Justice with an appearance in Court awaiting him to face charges of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. My blog tells all about it and his sneaky way of leaving the country unimpeded. ), and a website about wild horses that became a TV documentary.
Be patient, Internet Archive url’s open a bit lazily:
How to Scare the Shit Out of Americans
The following link is to another archived creation of mine, “ Save Canada’s Last Wild Mustangs.” This was a cause I took up inspired by the Wild West history of the beloved place I call home: Calgary, Alberta, CA. Calgary is just two hours down the road to deep mountain wilderness. The last wild mustangs live there. I put up a website about the near-extinction of these true wild Spanish mustangs still living hidden in the Rocky Mountains near my home. The site took off, collecting more than two million hits in a few months. I was shocked to suddenly have CBC TV and CTV story producers calling me begging to buy rights to turn my site into a TV doc. Ultimately I sold limited rights to Discovery Channel. I made the transaction conditional upon the channel hiring me to screen write and consult on the project. Man, that was the easiest, biggest money I ever made! If I’da known screenwriting paid so well, I would have jumped on that money train from the beginning.
Save Canada’s Last Wild Mustangs
So I’m asking myself right now, do I feel like writing more today here? NOPE! I need no permission to drop it here. I forgive myself for my laziness. What you’ve read so far draws from my biggest, most productive years working as a professional writer. My story carries on . I’ve led a privileged life owing largely to my superior intelligence ( I have the papers to prove it ), being born to a solidly middle class family; being born a Canadian and white. Big lucky breaks, I know.
There! I’ve said it. Watch things jump now!
I’ll be back when I feel like it.
Peace and Love,
Will
Hi Will,
I am not a drug person because I seem to be allergic to them. I tested so for pot and tobacco. Had to quit a good job with the State of AZ due to the low ceilings and lots of smoking co workers. Would literally drag myself home and get in bed every weekend- not a good MO for a single mom.
So nothing in common with you there but I like your attitude. So I signed on to your spot for a little light hearted reading while the world burns.
Namaste.
Gina