{"id":3309,"date":"2023-06-20T17:08:08","date_gmt":"2023-06-20T23:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irenenorth.com\/writings\/?p=3309"},"modified":"2024-04-22T02:46:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T02:46:03","slug":"returning-to-what-i-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/2023\/06\/20\/returning-to-what-i-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning to what I love"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

A robin rests on a fence post at the Scotts Bluff County Fairgrounds.<\/p><\/div>\n

On October 28, 2013, Steve Frederick gave me the opportunity to prove I could write. As the editor of the Scottsbluff Star-Herald, he told me on my first day, \u201cI can’t teach you how to write, you already know how to do that, but I can teach you to be a reporter.\u201d<\/p>\n

For nearly six years, that’s what I did. I learned about my adopted home of Scottsbluff and all of western Nebraska. I found cool stories to tell and suffered through countless boring meetings, so I could go out and tell more cool stories.<\/p>\n

Circumstances in my life changed, which led to my resignation from the Star-Herald. I still don’t speak much publicly about all the reasons I left, but it is true my mental health and PTSD diagnosis had a bit to do with it. One day, I will tell the story.<\/p>\n

For the past four years, I’ve been working at the CAPWN Youth Shelter. I worked overnight, 10 p.m., to 8 a.m. On my days off, I stuck to my nighttime schedule. It allowed me what I needed so I could live as normal a life as possible. At least for a while.<\/p>\n

I did a little freelance work, but not enough to make a living because part of my trauma falls into the category of not being able to do all the things required of a freelancer as well as so many other things. So, it was a story here and there. I figured I would write here on my blog and still be trying to get my memoir published on the day I die somewhere in the distant future.<\/p>\n

On May 22, 2023, I received a phone call from Jeff Fielder, co-owner of Nspire Today Magazine<\/a>. He asked if I’d like to write for him. The following is an edited version of our 30-minute conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure,\u201d I said. \u201cWhat’s the pay?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff told what he pays, we talked a bit and I said, \u201cyeah okay. I can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo how many stories do you think you can write,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne or two a month,\u201d I said. \u201cMaybe three.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

I explained how I stuck to a night schedule and had a podcast and a blog I’m trying to maintain, so I couldn’t commit to more than that.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me ask you a question, Irene,\u201d Jeff said. \u201cWhat if you weren’t working at the shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, Jeff, I could write a whole lot more,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

There was a pause on the other end of the line before Jeff said, \u201cHow much do you need to make?\u201d<\/p>\n

We talked some more. I said I could probably get to one story a day, but it was going to take a little while to build up some contacts again so that I could hit that target. He said not to worry. He had a giant list that needed to be done to help get me started.<\/p>\n

Jeff ran the numbers. I could hear him on the other end of the line figuring out the math.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

We hung up the phone and planned another call for later that night. He spoke to his co-owner, KC Heath, who I also worked with at the Star-Herald. He said “yes,” too. When I talked to Paul, he asked me why I didn’t just say yes. I didn’t need to talk to him, he said. He knows writing is what I love doing. It’s the one thing I’ve always been good at and get better at as time goes on.<\/p>\n

I gave my two-week notice at the shelter. I walked out of the shelter at 8 a.m., June 4, and stepped back into writing the next day.<\/p>\n

The pluses to this job is that I don’t work Wednesdays. I have therapy on Wednesday and the day is reserved for it. This is especially true when I do EMDR<\/a>, which can cause extreme fatigue. I also have the flexibility of when I turn my stories in. I need to turn in five stories each week. So, if something happens, like last Friday (read my previous blog post<\/a>) and I can’t work, that’s okay. There are still six other days in the week.<\/p>\n

I can turn in all five stories at once. I can turn in three on Tuesday and two on Saturday. Whatever combination of five per week is fine. I have the flexibility I need for my mental health while writing at my pace. Basically, this job ticks all the boxes I need in employment and I get to write.<\/p>\n

I didn’t think I’d ever get paid regularly again for writing. Hopefully, I don’t fuck it up. The past two weeks have been filled with multiple conversations with me thanking Jeff in a variety of ways. I’ll stress about deadlines later. Right now, I’m basking in the joy of doing what I love.<\/p>\n

Nspire Today Magazine focuses on telling the stories of the many amazing people in the WyoBraska area. If you know of someone you think would be a good story and you live in the area, shoot me an email, text, or give me a ring. If you know me in person here in town, you know I’m going to hit you up for a story. You have to say yes. Someone will eventually approach you and I know you’d rather have me write your story than a stranger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On October 28, 2013, Steve Frederick gave me the opportunity to prove I could write. As the editor of the Scottsbluff Star-Herald, he told me on my first day, \u201cI can’t teach you how to write, you already know how to do that, but I can teach you to be a reporter.\u201d For nearly six […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[238,254,405],"class_list":["post-3309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ramblings","tag-mental-health","tag-nebraska","tag-writing"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3528,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3309\/revisions\/3528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}