Props to "The Scribes"

A RED LETTER day in my life today, as I officially became "published".

That's right, published. In print. In a magazine. Specifically, the August edition of "Waco Today" magazine--and I'm in good company with many other contributors who have been published a lot more than I have--which brings me to the point: big time props to what I believe are still "the real journalists": what some of us call "the scribes".

Yes, those that write the written word, and that's either for newspaper, magazines or their on-line equivalent(s). These are the people who have to do what those of us in television don't do well at all: they create the pictures in our minds with their words, and spur the imagination. That's why I have had and still have today the utmost respect for the writers--be it news, sports, feature, financial, etc.. To use the old "cake" analogy, those of us in TV are like the frosting, as we deal with more headlines. The writers are like the body of the cake with real eggs mixed in, as they included the details that make the headline what it is. Writers are the real thing, and I think it's high time they get recognized for it.

My first written piece was on "The 5 Central Texas Football Players To Watch in 2009" (check it out at: www.wacotrib.com/wacotoday) . And, let me tell you, writing for print is a whole different animal that writing for TV! Again, I don't have the luxury of moving pictures to tell my story, so I had to draw my own mental picture(s), and then find the best words to describe those pictures so that your mind does the same thing. Trust me--that's not easy. And to think the scribes do that kind of thing every day? Phenominal!

Yes, writing is not necessarily "writing". In TV--and for those of you who need a refresher on my background, I've been a TV sportscaster for 21-years--one writes for what we call "the spoken voice" or "conversational voice". That is, we write the way we talk--basically transferring what we say to our fingers on the keyboard. An anchor is having a conversation with a viewer. In print, one tries to keep it conversational, but it's still more of the written word because the words are in front of you instead of moving pictures--and your words must be gramatically and anatomically correct. If not, the writer look stupid, and if that happens, the writer loses credibility. And once that happens, there's no more writer (or the writer moves into TV--sorry, a little poking fun at my own profession!).

A lot of TV folks don't get along with a lot of the writers, and vice versa. And, that's too bad. We could all learn a lot from each other. But to me, it doesn't matter. My hat is off to the scribes. And, I really don't care if theirs is off to me or not. My work speaks for itself, and it's been generally worthy of respect--TV not withstanding. But I do feel proud that tonight that I can stand with them as one of their own--albeit a rookie.

Trust me--I'll keep earning my spurs. I have that book to write within 3-years, after all!