New Gig

I got a call from one of my fishing buddies today and he asked me if I was interested in a job. He owns a couple newspapers and he wants me to do interviews and write feature stories for his publications. I've done a couple stories for him which received good feedback. This kind of writing appeals to me.
My first writing job when I got out of the Army in 1973 was at a weekly newspaper in our community. My good friend Dale Short was the editor and he taught me a great deal about how to write local interest stories.
His philosophy was that by the time a weekly paper hits the stands, hard news has been heard on the radio, seen on TV, and read in the daily paper.
"If people read hard news a week after it happens, then it's "old news", and no one wants to read that," he said.
What you have to do, is take the hard news and put a local spin to it.
He taught me to dig a little deeper and tell the story that the hard news guys missed. I honed my craft there.
Today, even some daily newspapers are struggling because by the time the headlines are printed, people have read the story on their iPhones and Blackberries. They've seen video on CNN and they've been "Tweeted" by someone on the scene.
So, I'm excited about the new opportunity. I'll meet my buddy next week to do some fishing and afterwards we'll discuss the specifics of the new gig.
I'll let y'all know how it goes. Happy Tuesday.