Columnists Discuss Branching Out From Newspapers

By: Dave Astor Columnists who want to make extra money, get more exposure, and use other creative muscles could learn a lot from five speakers at the National Society of Newspaper Columnists conference here.

For instance, Rick Horowitz is a self-syndicated political humor columnist who now also does Andy Rooney-like commentary for Milwaukee Public Television and works as a writing coach. "It puts some variety in what I do," he said. "And I think it has improved my column." Horowitz explained that writing TV commentary helps him "write for the ear" -- which makes a column more readable. And he said looking at other people's writing, and deciding what he likes and doesn't like about it, helps his own work.

Chris Rose, an entertainment columnist for The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, parlayed his writing into a stage show that has grown so popular it's reviewed in his own paper. "They gave me two good reviews, and then hammered me in a third," he reported wryly.

Rose said the show came about after years of reading his work out loud before sending it to editors. ("If you can't get through it, readers can't get through it," he observed.) People whom Rose read to finally started suggesting he do stand-up comedy, so "I plagiarized my own work" for a stage show. He's done about 100 performances during the past two years.

NSNC President Suzette Martinez Standring's self-syndicated column led to an offer to audition as host of a proposed reality-TV show. A production company representative was searching the Web for female humor columnists who might make good hosts when she saw Standring's Web site and asked her to send a demo videotape. The columnist may find out next month if she's offered the gig. "Even if I don't get it, I'm still thrilled to be asked," said Standring.

Ron Jackson said his column for The Daily Journal of Kankakee, Ill., has helped lead to numerous speaking engagements. "If you put something in writing, people think you're an expert," he told conference attendees. "Act like it!"

Jackson, a child of alcoholic parents who spent time in a foster home, said he "often speaks to groups of people dealing with that."

In a separate session, Bob Welch -- a columnist for The Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore. -- discussed a book he recently completed called "American Nightingale." It's about Frances Slanger, the first American Army nurse to die after the Normandy landings 60 years ago.

"It was good for me as a columnist to immerse myself in something else," said Welch, who spent more than three years researching and writing the book. "It taught me perseverance. It's the difference between running a marathon and running a sprint. You write a column and it's in the next day." Also, it made the journalist write somewhat differently after the book's editor told him, "It's OK to have more than two sentences in a paragraph, Bob."

Other benefits included "raising my esteem in the eyes of my employer" and meeting many new people. Welch even organized an emotional reunion (this month in Virginia) of nurses and doctors who knew the heroic Slanger. "It was one of the highlights of my life," he said. "If I don't sell one book, that was worth it."

Welch acknowledged that writing "American Nightingale" often left him with less time and energy for his column. But now that the book is done, Welch thinks the experience will help him "ramp the column to another level and take more risks. I might be a little edgier, a little tougher, and a little more vulnerable than I used to be."