For 44 years, Peggy and I have been writing partners, we have written educational books, apps and a newspaper advice column together. Here’s how we decided to become newspaper columnists.
One day, 37 years ago, we were researching how to handle different speaking situations while writing a book on how to speak effectively. We uncovered Miss Manners’ answer to a reader on how to handle a situation when your boob lands in the avocado dip at a party. Right then and there, we decided to become newspaper columnists and offer advice to parents on how to guide their children successfully through school. First, we garnered education questions from friends and neighbors and wrote answers to them.
We took our questions and answers to someone that the local school principal knew at the Indianapolis News. We invited this woman to lunch – hoping she would be someone who could help us meet the editor. Unfortunately, she said that there was a new editor and she couldn’t get us in to see him for at least six months. We went back to the newspaper office with her and were laughing and having a grand old time. On the elevator to her office, we met the News Editor who asked why we were laughing so much. We explained that we had an education column that we were trying to sell to the paper. This may sound unbelievable, but he took us to his office to learn more about the column. And then minutes later, we were talking to the editor and became the Dear Teacher columnists.
We then tried to sell the column to other newspapers and were fairly successful getting into close to 100 newspapers. Soon, our suburban newspaper interviewed Peggy about the column , and somehow the columnist described our efforts to get the column in more newspapers as going from house to house selling ourselves. This sure was a unique way to describe our sales effort. We still wonder how the newspaper readers interpreted this.
aginggratefully 