Pops warned me about becoming a Jack of all trades and master of none.
Sorry Pops.
I ended up as a Jack of a mostly low-paying trade. In other words, I’m a writer. Worse, still, as a writer, I am a Jack of all sorts of random topics and a master of none. And that makes defining my “blog focus” for this website extremely challenging.
World: “What do you like to write about?”
Me: “I don’t know. Everything?”
World: “You are supposed to write what you know. What do you know?”
Me: “I don’t know much. So, I mostly write what other people know.”
World: “This is your blog, not a newspaper article or a book you’re ghostwriting for someone else. Maybe you should pick something, become an expert on it, and write about that. Like bird calls. Or speed bumps. Or Elvis.”
Me: “Hmmmm. My wife and I have five bird feeders and a cool app that identifies bird calls! I heard a Great Horned Owl a few mornings ago. … And I experienced a ton of speed bumps while driving my wife around in a gas-powered golf cart for a few days on the streets of San Pedro, Belize, this summer. Not to mention the ones on our road in Hot Springs. They are way too tall, by the way. … Oh, yeah, and I’ve been to Graceland several times. That room with all the gold records? Way cool! And I know some of the words to Heartbreak Hotel and Love Me Tender. So, yeah, birds, speed bumps, and Elvis—all of that sounds great!”
World: “No, no, no! Not ‘all of that.’ You have to pick one and run with it.”
Me: “Where’s the fun in that?”
This unbridled interest in everything helps explain why I gravitated toward journalism and ghostwriting books.
As a sportswriter, I interviewed John McEnroe and went to several college football bowl games, the College World Series, and three Final Fours. I was there when Scotty Thurman drained that three-pointer to clinch that NCAA title for the University of Arkansas in basketball.
As a magazine editor, I’ve interviewed folks like Sir John Templton, Wayne Huizenga, Richard Boles, and Ben Carson.
And as a ghostwriter, I’ve interviewed Usain Bolt and worked with a former Blue Angel pilot, the CEOs of global corporations, entrepreneurs who built companies from nothing and sold them for multi-millions, a cowboy who once was crushed by a bull, and a former Israeli super spy (sorry, I can’t tell you his name).
For this website, however, I’m going to write what I actually know, or at least what I think I know. I’ll try to limit my topics to Onesimus (the book that comes out in March 2027), writing tips, the state of newspapers/journalism, and Jesus (devotional type blogs about things God is teaching me).
That’s only four things, and there’s plenty of variety in those topics. But be warned: Everything is still in play, including bird calls, speed bumps, and Elvis.
Leave a Reply