Perpetually cheap

I have complained too much.

You probably are getting sick of it.
Consider the advice taken.

 

Plus, sometimes it takes time. A horrible set of circumstances had dropped me from a major metro for my first gig out of college, to a bi-weekly.
There were some lean years there, but in less than four years I'm making some pretty decent coin. You have to be patient and lucky in my opinion.
Plus, struggling makes you appreciate success.

 

How many people would you say are working in newspapers because it's good job security?
I mean, becoming a creative writer or a comedy writer or a sports blogger is a big risk. You either make it or you go broke.
As bad as my job is, I know I'll have another byline come Wednesday and Friday and another paycheck coming.
I love covering sports and learning the ropes of my beat, but I sometimes wonder if eventually I'd be better suited for something else.
Is it possible to continue working as a journalist, spending the amount of time and effort it takes to be successful, while also trying to make it in something that takes a big risk/reward element?
Can someone do both, or do one until he or she can transition into the other without ending up starving first?

 

Write a screenplay in your spare time. Or a TV pilot. Or a book or a series of short stories or start a blog with your friends about your binge drinking exploits.

Do something else creative where you can work on it a little if you have time or leave it alone if you don't. I don't think you can continue working full time as a sports writer and simultaneously cure cancer or split the atom.

Baby steps.

 

Yes. Like the National Sports Daily, those are the ones that often go broke.

 

Or you can make the best of a bad situation.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to parse through your posts to glean some idea of what kind of market you live in (major, mid-major, small), but there are opportunities to improve your situation. I live and work in a major metro, so I freelance my balls off in an effort to move up the so-called career ladder. Am I the most-talented guy in the world? Probably not. But oftentimes effort trumps the lazy talented guy.

So, do things that can improve your career path. If there are colleges and pros in your area, see if you can't freelance some games or write features or do what-the-fuck-ever you can to get out of what you've said is a bad situation.

 

Brain, we're in a dying business. The gold-plate days are over, even at the big boys. I mean, hell, Gannett yesterday said they won't pay for exec's club memberships any more. The horror.
You may have a particularly lousy shop, so do what everyone else said: Freelance. Blog (just not anything that's going to get you fired from your day job). Meet people at other papers. Look for a better gig. And don't bitch about the technology, it sucks everywhere. Everywhere I've been, at least.
One more piece of advice: in your next move, look for a union paper. You're a lot less likely to get hosed on the little things (mileage, OT, etc.) and that can make a big difference over time.

 

Sirs, Madames,

It says something that the cheapest reporter I ever met in the business* ended up becoming an SE.

YHS, etc

* Once I gave him a ride from Toronto-Pittsburgh return. He was going to file mileage for it but didn't contribute a dime to my gas expenses. On the way home he promised to treat me to a meal--when I dropped him at home, he told me to wait a minute outside ... and when he came back out he handed me a sandwich his wife made.

On road trips, he'd pocket his per diem and eat food out of baggies he had packed away in his suitcases. As is well known in Toronto circles, he brought bottles of wine in his carry-on to Sydney for the Olympics.

In this business, guys like this are eventually your boss. Good luck.

 

Some guy at work yesterday went on a diatribe about the service he gets from the local Steak N Shake restaurant. "And this happens every time I go there!" he said.

Uh, don't go there anymore? Why would they change when rotten service is enough to get you to come back?