Seven years of a Pilot column, some hard to write, some easy

It’s been seven years.

I became a weekly columnist for the Daily Pilot in April of 2009. Today, some 350 published columns later, I’m still here. Frankly, I’m surprised.

Here’s how it developed:

I received a call from a Daily Pilot editor a year after my retirement asking if I’d consider writing a weekly column for the newspaper. The offer caught me by surprise. Hmm. Let me think about that.

I grew up an avid consumer of ink on newsprint.

In my sophomore and junior years at Costa Mesa High School, I was sports editor of the student newspaper, The Hitching Post. In 1960-61, I also worked as a prep reporter covering high school sports for the Daily Pilot, then called the Globe-Herald.

I earned 15 cents per column inch of published copy. A large 20-inch spread that took hours to construct would garner $3.

My dream at the time was to work as a columnist for a metropolitan daily in the fashion of Jim Murray, Herb Caen, Art Buchwald or Erma Bombeck. While writing for the Globe-Herald I got to know the newspaper’s sports editor and columnist, Bill Doner, who became a role model.

I was trained as a journalist in the Army and served as sports editor of a military newspaper in Seoul, South Korea. Following my discharge, I returned home and wrote for Orange Coast College’s student newspaper, The Barnacle. Later, I became a Cal State Fullerton communications graduate.

All the while, I was pining for a columnist’s post somewhere. Anywhere!

Upon receiving my B.A., I went into public relations. I worked for a PR agency, then took a community relations assignment at my alma mater, OCC. That developed into a 37-year career and my life’s work.

I retired in 2008.

A year after retirement my ship came in. I was excited about becoming a columnist, but also nervous. I quickly learned to respect the medium and the message.

At the time, the Pilot had a number of excellent columnists such as Joseph Bell, Steve Smith and Peter Buffa. Why’d they need me? The short answer was they didn’t, but now that the offer had been tendered, they couldn’t possibly retract it, could they?

“You love to write,” my wife, Hedy, reasoned. “And a year into retirement you’re driving me nuts. What do you have to lose? It’ll be a challenge.”

What would I write about? The Pilot editor assured me I had carte blanche. He further added that because my family has lived more than seven decades in the Newport-Mesa community, I could offer some insight into its development.

But I won’t write about politics, I insisted. That, the editor said, was fine. I signed on the dotted line — without actually signing on any dotted line.

If I make it six months as a columnist, I reasoned, I’d exceed my expectations by about a hundred percent. I can then, without professional embarrassment, proffer my resignation.

I made it six months, then a year. It’s now been seven. I haven’t missed a deadline but, honestly, it took me a couple years to find my voice. Many of my early efforts were painfully self-conscious.

Am I amazed? Yes! This writing business isn’t easy, but neither is it a Rubik’s Cube.

Every column is different. Some are more difficult to write than others. Some seem almost to write themselves, and when that happens, it’s magic. It’s as if you’re channeling a muse.

I wonder if Hemingway felt as such.

There are times — literally — when I have nothing to say. Then, I’ll sit at my keyboard and, voila!

An hour later I’ll have a first draft of something I hadn’t previously considered. I can’t explain it.

I now have several fans. Some have even recognized me in public. How thoughtful of them to say hi.

When my 92-year-old mom, my biggest fan, grows weary of my prose, it’ll be time for me to pack it in.

Until then, thanks for reading!

JIM CARNETT, who lives in Costa Mesa, worked for Orange Coast College for 37 years.