Out With the Old, In With the New

For the last two years I've written a humor column called "U've Got To Be Kidding" for a Florida family magazine. Last week I sent in my most recent column only to receive an e-mail from the editor that said, essentially, "Oops, guess you didn't get the e-mail that the magazine folded."

Ah, no, I didn't.

But that's fine--assignments come and go.  I'm kind of wondering if I'm in a "go" phase. Aside from this, two of my columns for other magazines didn't appear last month. I e-mailed both editors to ask if there was (ahem!) anything I ought to know, and both assured me content had just run high that month and they'd had to bump the columns for that one issue only.

I've been extremely fortunate in that I've had long runs with several magazines, writing marketing or humor columns for them for years. There's such a high turnover in magazines that when an editor leaves, it's not uncommon for a "housecleaning" to occur, and new columnists brought in to freshen up the content. 

While I'm sad to lose this humor column, I believe losing one thing often opens the doors for others to present themselves. For example, I've just started ghostwriting two online articles a month for a new editor and I love the assignment.  I've also had bites at new project areas that I'm hoping to develop. So in essence, while it always feels safer to stick with what's known, letting go of comfort zones has always worked to move my career in new and unexpected directions.

I've had the hairs up on the back of my neck for almost a month now that change was in the air regarding my standing assignments. Losing this column might be the start of that. But I'm optimistic that whatever is lost, great gains are around the corner...