I want this blog to do well

It’s been a time.

I just moved to Arizona, which I briefly detailed in one byline for The Autopian. That means finding ways to harvest a new career, because Panera Bread doesn’t scream ‘forever’ and the journalism gods seem to continue turning its backs on offering me full-time employment anywhere.

And honestly, I’m over it. 4 years of freelancing, my personal hopes of eventually breaking into the industry seem to be drying up. In that time, I sold cars, went back to Panera, got my life insurance license (one state so far), and now with the migration to Arizonan mountainland complete, I can healthily put one foot forward in front of the other.

My patience has run out in other areas. I have creative projects that have lived in my head for years, and I’ve finally got them down to paper. And I can add more details, file, and organize them properly into a neat box that sits under my box, presently.

This includes the blog, expanding bylines with more publications, and, yes, even a couple of novels. I haven’t fully decided what I wish to make to it to print, and what will appear online on Wattpad.

One thing at a time though. Heart’s first task is the thing I’ve been doing lately, and actually brought me the most joy: freelancing for The Autopian. I’ve never stopped paying attention to car publications and the evolution of it since the pandemic. In all, AI is coming on strong and fast. I accept it can help me in terms of marketing my Substack, but if it comes after my writing, it can fuck off.

Also feeling my wrath is this element of nepotism that’s going on. No matter how many applications I put out there, no matter how many years I add to my resumé, I see familiar names of writers going from Jalopnik to The Drive, or The Drive to MotorTrend, and so on. Everyone’s jumping to new places and I’m over here on the sidelines, waiting for coach to put me in.

Now though, I wonder if I should remain a fly on the wall, seeing how I’ve hardly made any real progress toward nabbing a part-timer, let alone a full-timer. And beside, it’s not like the quality of journalism has genuinely improved. I’m certainly not here for the drivel that lets Business Insider publish guest essays filled with grammatical errors, nor for the fluff that dims a coming out story. You lose my interest here as a reader, and let me tell you I read absolutely everything

My point is, I don’t wish to end up the type of writer in my thirties who’s pumping out degenerate news about Kid Rock, or echoing a creep who met his current wife by deflating her tires. If I’m going to write for a living, it will be the stuff that I want to cover dammit. There’s too much negativity in the world as it is.

Right now, I’m leaning toward lurking in the shadows permanently, and excelling quietly. Because my stuff has gotten continual praise by my editor (thanks, DT!) and I have stuff to put out on a rolling basis.

Beside that, it’s time to put a greater concentration on other matters closer to heart. WAC is the starting point. Let’s see these creative projects finally come to fruition after a years-long hiatus on the back burner.

In the meantime, I’ve got to get good at the Substack thing, don’t I?