The Wright Stuff

Today was a pretty neat day. Forgive the third grade description but I'm exhausted and neat pretty much sums it up. I'm still looking for jobs and I want to find something that I enjoy. Same story, different verse. I'm looking at colleges around town but I've always liked writing and have a Journalism degree to show for it. Ever since high school I've told people that I want to write a humor column a la Dave Barry. If you've never read his stuff, please check him out. He's semi-retired but his voice is terrific and most anyone can relate to what he's written about. Another writer I really enjoy reading is ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine's Wright Thompson. He wrote the piece, Saints Are The Soul of America's City, that everyone linked to on Facebook a couple of months ago. I read a story he wrote about Myron Rolle, the Florida State football player that is also a Rhodes Scholar. At the end of the story, there was an email address for Thompson and I figured what the heck.

I shot him a note asking for some advice on how someone in my situation might course correct onto a bearing toward writing. Not 20 minutes later, he'd emailed me back with a contact and some words of encouragement. That is total class and it could not come at a better time. Even if things don't ultimately plan out, just having that kind of input is enough to restore a great deal of confidence that's been lacking as of late. I'm doing my best to live out the adage that I should take something I enjoy and find a way to make money doing it. Again, nothing is certain at all, but I can at least see a bit of land on the horizon.

Another neat thing happened today. People always tell me that I have a great voice. When I worked for Tim Fletcher at KTBS in Shreveport, he told me I had a voice made for TV and a face made for radio. He also said that in a lecture with a hundred of my peers. He did other not so nice things to me too on camera too. By on camera I mean to be put on the local sports broadcast and not on the tabloids. I've digressed quite a bit. When I lived in Shreveport, I'd call radio stations and other on air talent trying to find out how to get a foot in the door for some sort of voice over work. Never heard one word from anyone and that was always a little frustrating. I'm not necessarily looking for a career but just something cool to try my hand at. I did a google search and randomly came across a guy's website who was a professional voice over artist. I sent him an email explaining how I'd tried and tried to get someone to talk to me to no avail and if he had any advice. He replied this afternoon saying he'd love to talk to me but didn't have my phone number. Send it to him and he'll call me this week and we can chat. Good grief my faith in humanity was restored just a little bit today.

Again, not one single thing could come from this but still it's nice to have these opportunities. I'm not giving up. I'm going to find something I enjoy. Even if it has to be two, three, or four separate things. Kristen and I are excited and are really looking forward to our future. Kudos to optimism.