Journalism

It took years for me to begin describing myself as a journalist. I landed a job at The Old Globe theatre straight out of college, then spent many years in roles where I put my love of writing to work as often as possible. Years later, I landed a part-time job at a community newspaper to round out some ghostwriting and pitched my first news stories knowing I had cracked open the door to my future. I genuinely enjoyed presenting facts in a way that moves people to consider the significance of an annual homeless count on funding or what will happen if we allow censorship to creep into schools or why poll numbers matter to the community. Three years and a pandemic later, I was writing daily for three different papers across diverse communities as well as a monthly column, Libraries and Life.

From protests to political campaigns, homeless outreach to high school happenings, legal failures and lawbreakers, I have years of experience with honest reporting on community issues from a neutral perspective. A Star-News feature story, ‘140 Years of Journalism’ that I wrote a few years ago sums up why community journalism matters.

How Does a Journalist End Up in Book Development?

The news world was already changing before the pandemic but the reality is print news, although not dead, is pricey to maintain and I was unexpectedly laid off from my role as Staff Writer in 2023 due to budget cuts. With the formidable ghost of future mortgage payments lurking over me, I revisited the rough draft of a book I’d put aside several years earlier. This time, I had the benefit of knowing when to use a red pen. I not only set forth to finish that book as a labor of love for my son, I also put on my business boots and launched Pomegraf Editing & Book Development to walk others toward publication.

I still keep one foot in journalism and currently work as a Features Writer with FRAtoday magazine, a niche publication directed to military sea veterans with national reach. If you’ve not heard of Fleet Reserve Association, know they are a national veterans advocacy group and regularly push for better policy at state and national levels.

However, I also channel my love of working locally to improve the world, a habit that began back when I first sat down in a newsroom, into joining new authors wherever they are in the process of developing an idea into a published book through Pomegraf.

You can check out some of my articles below, but I also hope you’ll reach out to me with that idea you had.

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