Fwd: The End As We Know It

**N* S* <s*@earthlink.net>**

Whether you make your entire living by garden writing and programs or  
use the proceeds to supplement your income doesn't change the facts.  
Nor does the fact you don't want to change and as Doug says create new  
channels. The train is coming down the track folks and we can't stop it.

  My weekly column runs in both of the Michigan major daily  
newspapers. It does not  pay well, but helps generate income from  
speaker's fees. I will do more then a dozen in March and April, my  
really busy time,  at four of the largest garden centers in Metro  
Detroit for which I am well paid.  I also do an occasional magazine  
article and this fall I participated in an infomercial for the Works  
Tri Vac. You may have seen it. My nephew caught it on TV while  
vacationing in Mexico over Thanksgiving - What a hoot!  While I was  
not paid residuals or a talent fee,  I was given a small stipend for  
time and expenses. I had to fly to North Carolina to tape the piece. I  
got my 15 seconds of fame and it has also added to my promotion  
platform so it was worth the time and effort as far as I am  
concerned.  To date I am able to generate about 35 percent of my  
income from my garden writing endeavours. It's not a king's ransom -  
my social security and a small pension from my late husband pretty  
much covers my expenses, so my GW income is gravy. It pays for my  
"electronics" , garden writers symposium, bi-annual trips to England -  
I'm signed up for Donna Dawson's Garden Writers trip in July,  lots of  
soil amendments, fun stuff for my kids and grandchild :-)

That said, I do not feel I can sit on my laurels because as we all  
know, newspapers are dying. I estimate my column will be good for  
another three years and then who knows? I generate lots of attendance  
for my talks through my columns - some venues pull in over 200  
attendees, but if the column goes, so goes my speaker's fees.  So I'm  
banking my future is online. And though it may take a year or more to  
direct my readers there, I must take advantage of the platform I have  
in place.

So I am taking an active part on partner Jeff Ball's website, and we  
are hitting the ground running on my blog. I also plan to start  
Twittering after Christmas. Jeff's website, www.yardener.com has been  
around for several years and is established, but after crash and burn  
on blogspot my blog is starting from scratch. To my surprise I've been  
getting 20 to 25 hits a day, 35 or so on weekend this past month. When  
my other blog crashed we were up to 3 to 4 hundred hits a week.

While the money is important to me, I cannot imagine my life without  
my garden writing career. When my beloved husband of 35 years died  
suddenly of a stroke a little over a decade ago,  my career saved my  
life. Doing an infomercial at the ripe old age of 68 was a real kick.  
And, I got rave reviews from the producer and the folks at Positec.

Don't think for a minute this internet thing is easy for me, it's not.  
I am spastic when it comes to computers, and screw things up all the  
time. In order to be successful, I have had to upgrade my computer and  
every time I change equipment all hell breaks loose.  I could stick my  
head in the sand and hope for the best, but then what? When I get  
discouraged I think back to the time my late husband, the art director  
of the marketing department at the Detroit Free Press, told his  
graphic artists he would be training them to do all thier graphics on  
the  Mac, and in six months their boards and t-squares would be gone.  
Talk about panic and an uphill climb.  Back then the programs were  
tough to learn and took lots of practice. Today everyone does graphics  
with no training. Of course that does not make them good, but I digress.

Jeff just bought copies of the latest Facebook and Twitter for  
Dummies. I was appalled at the thickness. Can't anything be easy any  
more? Guess not.  When I bought my Mac mini I paid $100 for a years  
coaching by the store wizards. We bring our computer with us and they  
give us an hour walking through what every problem we have. We have to  
make an appointment online. One guy used his time to do a presentation  
that ended up getting him a new job. Because you send your subject in  
ahead of time you are assigned someone who knows the program etc.  
There is no limit to number of time you use it.  I'm sure there are  
postings for computer coaches at local colleges and libraries. I'm  
trying to view all this as anew adventure. The good news is,with the  
internet, the world is my oyster and I just need to learn how to crack  
it.
Happy Holidays however you spend it.

Nancy Szerlag
Columnist for Detroit News
szerlag@earthlink.net
Check blog at http://nancysgarden.wordpress.com

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