I was at a cocktail party almost 40 years ago….and the chief economist for the State of Michigan was explaining a concept to a half circle of people. They all looked puzzled, and when he finished, no one knew what to say.
So…..when they all drifted off, I (kind of arrogantly) walked up to him and said “hey,” and proceeded to tell him his own concept, in about a quarter of the time, using much more accessible language.
Towards the end of those quick 60 seconds, he suddenly got a great big smile.
And that’s how I got my first writing job. His office would call me up and READ a speech or a paper or a report or a talking point into my answering machine. And I’d REwrite the content, shorter, leaner and easier to understand……and I’d run to town and fax it back from the bank.
It didn’t last very long, because at the same time, what I was ALSO doing, was teaching everyone in that office how to do MY job. Whether they ever did it as well, I’ll never know…the job lasted a few weeks, I made a few hundred bucks and then it was over.
Months later, I got a call from someone referred to me by that office. And it was from there, that I started rolling. Never big money, never a full time job. But a GIG job before most people knew that was a thing.
What I became most-known for, was working with math. Taking complicated or dense math ideas and making them accessible. I also became known for CORRECTING people’s math, and then sometimes losing jobs. If the GOAL was to mislead people with obtuse or “dishonest” math, I was not the right person to bring onboard.
Over time, I worked for public offices, political campaigns, educators, non-profits, businesses and even scientists.
I’ve edited or rewritten hundreds of speeches, papers, presentations, advertising and just about every other kind of communication.
I’ve had one time gigs, and relationships that lasted more than 20 years.
Since 2020, I’ve mostly avoided political work, and I’ve focused more on science. By rejecting political campaigns, my income took a big hit, but I’m also a lot happier.
With the pandemic, I became hyper-focused on DISINFORMATION, and Post Truth. At first, I was doing some research and writing essays just to satisfy my own interest. (and genuine fear….Post Truth is SCARY) But I got lucky and some of my work got picked up and paid for, including an interesting, TINY essay I did on the definition of SCIENCE. It was bought and paid for BY scientists.
I sharpen my skills by daily writing two, IMPROVED explanations of some or another bad economics lesson we find everywhere on Facebook. I might put all of those into a book someday.
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