Getting into the game

Years ago, I was covering a basketball game in Eastern North Carolina, and I'd never been to this high school before. I didn't have a press credential; my newspaper didn't issue press credentials. And I was having trouble talking my way into the game.

For some reason — maybe for this reason — I had taken a copy of my newspaper's sports section with me. I showed it to the young woman at the door, and she showed it to the principal. "He DOES write for the newspaper," she told him.

They let me in.

I think that was the only time I thought to do that.

Years later, I was trying to get to the credential office for a state championship football game in Raleigh, N.C., and, again, I didn't have a press credential (this was a different newspaper). I was getting desperate, and I told the woman at the gate that I had a North Carolina Press Association sticker on my windshield.

She saw it, and they let me in.

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com.

More EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

Entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• 10 years with Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• YIP! YIP! The stereo-sound huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!