Funny how things circle back

My first big break as a writer came from the Albany Times Union. I still remember getting a phone call from an editor on Thanksgiving Day. He told me they were going to run a feature story I’d submitted — about a guy who collected running sneakers and shipped them to Africa — and that they were paying me for the story. Before that call, I’d mostly been writing for free for any publication accepting my work. I dreamed of being a full-time writer, but I spent 40+ hours each week driving a truck for FedEx.

That story running in a major daily newspaper and the years of work that went into making that moment happen were the start of something good for me. Several years later, I landed a full-time sportswriting gig at the paper, and, as the saying goes, I have never looked back.

While I eventually transitioned to PR, then to photography, and back to PR again (while publishing a couple of books), I have always thought fondly of my days as a Times Union writer. It’s incredible to dream about something for years, stay focused on that goal, and make it happen.

I’m now more than 1,000 miles away from Albany, in Central Florida, but the Times Union expressed an interest in Healed on the Inside and ran a short story about my book yesterday. In a way, I’m back where I began. It feels just as cool as seeing that first story, about donated sneakers, in print.