No one told me before I got into this what column writing would
be like.
No one told me before I got into this what column writing would be like. I had no idea. I soon discovered that one of the thrills of being a columnist is the feedback one receives, the e-mail, the comments, and being recognized at 2 a.m. in the grocery store when you’re buying Preparation H and tampons, and someone decides they’d like to have a conversation with you. Then there are all the people who have your next column in mind. They always start with, “I know what you should write about …” Most of the time I am grateful for their very good ideas, but occasionally I have been intimidated by someone who pressured me for months to write on a particular topic. It’s almost like having a columnist stalker.
Being a columnist is not for the faint of heart; you will be called names and insulted, no matter how good your intentions are, and you will be accused of “spewing venom,” and of being things that you most definitely are not, such as a terrorist: “… Kat … they are waiting for you in caves and palaces with bullets, and explosives. Please go to them. Soon.” Sometimes, you will wonder just how far a rabid reader might be willing to go– you hear about road rage – could a columnist become a victim of reader rage?
But it’s the thank-yous that play my heartstrings the most. From a senior citizen at Sunset Gardens: “Dear Kat, I cannot thank you enough for being so nice. Read your column on June 5, and you made me a star here at Sunset Gardens.” Or “Kat, thank you for the great piece about Gavilan and budget cuts. Our PIO sent it out to everyone at Gavilan. You’re doing so much good! – Leah Halper.”
Or this recent one: “Dear Kat: I am a retired Postmaster and thank you for your nice article about the Gilroy post office and the employees of this office. The Postal Service is very fortunate to have employees that gain and maintain the respect and trust of their customers every day. Thank you!” (H. Ray Harrington). Or ones like this: A friend tells me just how much she enjoys my column and describes another columnist she likes in the Monterey Herald by the name of Sharon Randall. “A lot of people buy the Herald just for her column,” Kathryn tells me, “And your style reminds me of her.” I go off into my little fantasy-land, imagining what it must be like to have readers buy a newspaper just because your column is in it!
When I first began column writing, my big fear was that I would run out of ideas; I would wake up in a cold 3 a.m. sweat, wondering, “How can anyone possibly think of what to say on a new topic each and every week for 52 weeks a year?” I thought I should write extra back-up columns ahead of time as insurance just in case I couldn’t come up with anything. It turned out my life became too busy to ever get around to writing those handy back-up columns, but as I now mark the two-year anniversary of writing this column, I find that there has not been a single week without an idea. In fact, most weeks it’s a matter of considering various possibilities and narrowing it down to which idea makes the most sense, is the most timely, and has the potential of helping the most people. Of course, if all else fails, a columnist can always write a column about writing a column.
