Update: And doggone it, people like me!

This was the Stuart Smalley-inspired blog entry I wrote on January 22, 2007:

"I want to be a professional freelance writer. I want to do this in Bozeman, Montana. I want to cover people and events I myself find interesting. I want to write for magazines and newspapers, based in print or on the Internet, that have an appreciation and respect for my talent, and that challenge me in ways that I find constructive. I want to be paid well for my efforts.

"Okay, that was weird. It better work."

Back then I was agonizing over the fact that a local weekly newspaper stopped returning my phone calls, and I doubted that I'd ever be able to make a living at this. I've certainly come a long way in the nine months since then. Today I was working on an article for a prestigious national publication in which I'm getting more than $1 per word. I still haven't quite gotten it to where work is steady and I just come up with ideas and editors beg me for the honor of gracing their publications with my articles, but I feel like I'm really not too far away from that. There have actually been editors competing for my articles, and I've been able to garner more money for my work because of it.

So, let's just say that maybe Stuart Smalley knows what he's doing, okay? And, with that in mind, I might as well start a fresh one:

"I want to make a decent living as a professional freelance writer. I want to be based in Bozeman, Montana, but I also want to be paid to travel to assignments in far-flung locales. I want editors to continue to have an appreciation and respect for my talent, and continue to challenge me in ways I find constructive. I want editors to respond to my ideas and queries, and I also want editors to contact me with their ideas for me. I want longer assignments, and I want $1/word to be the minimum I will accept for an assignment. I want to continue working with photographer Anne Sherwood, and I want her to continue getting assignments, too. We both want to start shooting video.

"I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!"

What the hell - why not?