Since May, my film reviews and articles have been running in three Florida newspapers, all part of the New York Times chain: Gainesville, Sarasota and Ocala. I started doing it for simple reasons -- the Star only let me review a handful of the bigger "event" movies, and it wasn't enough to satisfy me professionally.
Plus, as I tried to explain to my Indy bosses in a futile attempt to let me write more of it, criticism is a very specific type of writing that requires special muscles. You can't shut it down for months on end and expect to maintain any kind of proficiency. If I stopped going to the gym between July and November and then tried to lift the same amount of weight, I'd be swallowing dumbbells.
I can't begin to describe how grateful I am to my Southern colleagues for letting me have an outlet for my work -- and more importantly now, provide a little bit of income.
I'm pleased to announce that starting next week, the Courier-Journal in Louisville will begin running a featured review by me every week. Altogether, the circulation of my client papers now exceeds 400,000 -- far more than even the Star's considerable reach.
So as I welcome the new year and celebrate this new addition, I wanted to take the time to thank my "customers" for giving me a creative outlet at a time when I desperately needed it.
And for visitors to this blog, please visit their Web sites and click on the published links to throw a little extra traffic their way.
The Gainesville Sun
Ocala Star-Banner
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Louisville Courier-Journal
That's great, Chris!
ReplyDelete