Scarlet Letters

It's been a while since we did one of these.... ME: Is my social media leader text too long? EDITOR: Yes, and too complicated. It has to be shorter and simpler. ME: Are you saying that people on Facebook cannot comprehend a compound sentence? EDITOR: Yes. Duh. ---- JIM: Hey, free books on the table. ME: Boooooks. JIM: "Writing Great Short Stories." "Steps to Writing Well." "Characters and Viewpoint." ME: Want. JIM: "Eats Shoots and Leaves." "How to Read Novels Like a Professor." You want all of them? They are free for the taking. ME: Yes. Any we don't add to the house collection can go to the Relay sale in the fall. JIM: "Rhetorical Analysis." ME: ... ugh. JIM: I got all the ones about writing. I'll put them in my book bag. ME: *bounce* JIM: There are two left but I don't think you want those. ME: What are they? JIM: "Business School Essays" and "A Practical Guide to Family T...

This has proven much more difficult to write than I anticipated, probably because this is the hardest decision I have ever had to make. Harder than the decision to leave Memphis and my career in the arts in order to pursue a life in journalism. Harder than the decision to divorce my first husband, the father of my child. And I'm not one to take a leap without considering all the options, so you'd best believe that I have discussed this with Jim, with my parents, with close friends, with mentors. Probably until they were tired of talking about it with me. I have dithered and stalled, because once I post this, it's final. It's real. I'm leaving the newspaper. With that decision ends 21 years in daily journalism. Wow, that was hard to type. And I haven't even done it yet. Please click here to check out my new site and all the details about this amazing new journey I'm about to take, and how you can be a part of it.