The stability of a consistent paycheck eludes many freelance writers, but scribbling out a regular column in a local rag can help address this shortcoming and provide a fulfilling sense of community connectedness. It is also more attainable than you think. (Look at the amount of your local daily’s content that is purchased from without.) A well-crafted cold pitch may work, but consider my unintentional path; it is repeatable.

It began with a need to scratch an itch, lodged deep in my being by a former career in intelligence, to apply solid data, sound reasoning, and honed prose in public discussions of current events in a forum with standards exceeding those found in social media platforms. So, I regularly submitted to the editor of my local paper short letters tackling everything from agricultural initiative debates to public works decisions, from war in Ukraine to Polynesian cultural norms. They were all published, save one.

With a dozen or so letters in print, on a lark, I proposed contributing regularly for pay. I leveraged my demonstrated quality of writing and analysis, and my decades of experience with the CIA, to pitch a column on national security matters. The response was quick: “We’ve never done something like this. Let’s talk.” (Before you get discouraged, a unique background or speciality is not required. Another regular columnist for our paper uses her cachet as a born-and-bred local to craft commentary on community trends. Maybe your huckleberry is gardening or food or cars. Irrespective of any expertise you bring to the table, an understanding of, and ability to feed, your local audience is key.)

Details were fleshed out in a follow-up phone call. “What will your sources be?” “Can I send you some bonafides to verify my background?” “We need an authoritative, but casual voice that can appeal to the farmer, the high-school drop out, and the college professor.” “I can work with tight deadlines and would welcome assignments.”

We settled on a monthly format of 700 words, $75 per piece, to be published in the commentary section. I was asked to submit a few trial pieces that would be my first published installments, if they passed muster. I created a byline, established an email address for write-ins, knocked out three pieces and submitted them. “We will run your first piece this Tuesday, a good day for launching new regular content.” (Fast forward one year. All of my recent contributions have run on Sundays, the highest circulation day.)

“What’s it like?” Well, I choose my own subjects, but have also written to suggestion. Edits are few and far between and, frustratingly, have sometimes introduced errors. I’ve developed a small following, and readers correspond with me. I’ve started looking for speaking opportunities, and schemes for syndication tickle the back of my mind. Then there’s that regular, albeit small, paycheck…

As I come to a close, please do not confuse my success story with an advocacy for regular pro bono, foot-in-the-door scrivener work to get published; I stand with many of you in being against that, in general. For the opportunity to enjoy a long-term regular paycheck doing what we love, mayhaps an exception is called for in this particular pursuit. For me, when pitch time came, I already had a track record of sorts with the paper. Absent that, I cannot say how my tale would have unfolded.

So, know that regular gigs in local papers are fair game for any freelance writer. Demonstrate an understanding of the your community, provide some samples (previously published works, freshly crafted exemplars, letters to the editor, other), and wind up your pitch.

May your writing be joyful and your paychecks regular. Adieu.

Bio:  John Atwell is the editor of Weekly Intelligence Notes, the online news magazine of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, and the author of The Island Intelligencer, a monthly column on national security issues in the Hawaii Tribune Herald. His writing on media literacy, homeschooling, homesteading, teaching personal finance to children, and health and diet have been published in various magazines. In his early freelance writer days, he also dabbled in copy mill work. John, a federal retiree, lives with his wife of 28 years in a jungle-ensconced off-grid yurt on the slopes of an active remote-Pacific-island volcano, where he tends free-range chickens and turkeys, tropical fruit trees, and some gardens with the help of three feral-pig-chasing hounds and two feline muroid hunters. You can connect with John at solemnscrivener@gmail.com.