EDITOR@WORK: covering NASCAR

Showing posts with label covering NASCAR. Show all posts

Monday, June 24, 2013

Getting endorsements

If you on LinkedIn, you're almost certainly aware of endorsements. Your contacts endorse you for various talents.

In my case (writer and editor), I get endorsed for writing, editing, copy editing, publishing, publications, proofreading and much more. That's all good, since I'm good at those things. I've edited everything from novels and non-fiction books to business and academic writing and more.

It's ironic, but everyone ignores one of my strengths (probably second only to copy editing), and that's motorsports. I've written four books about auto racing and have written about the subject since 1979. My first racing stories were about a guy who raced a Peter Bilt truck on weekends.

Oh, I'm not complaining. It's just strange that I have 40 endorsements for copy editing, 25 for editorial and 12 for editing. And I have one for motorsports.

My first big-time interviewee was the great David Pearson, and I've interviewed everyone from Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Darrell Waltrip to Richard Petty and Davey Allison to Alan Kulwicki and Jeff Gordon. And many more.

When I first started covering auto racing on a regular basis, NASCAR great Cale Yarborough said, "You don't know much about auto racing, do you?" He'd just told me the story of him going over the wall at Darlington in a race car, and I excitedly said, "Really?!"

Anyway, after Cale's question, I answered, "Come back in 10 years. I'll know a LOT more then."

It's been more than 10 years, and I do know a lot more. If Cale and I were linked on LinkedIn, he might endorse me for motorsports. And, yes, I'd endorse him for it, too.

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com BLUESKY: PROFILE

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

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!

ENTRIES FROM THE DOG BLOG

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• 13-plus years with my dog 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

Monday, June 27, 2011

Shifting gears

In 1990, I was the auto-racing writer in Charleston, S.C., and life was good. I was in Daytona Beach for the summer race; I'd written my lead story on Bill Elliott and my notebook lead on Darrell Waltrip starting his 400th career race, and I thought I'd head outside to get a few extra quotes. I was also freelancing for Winston Cup Scene (later NASCAR Scene), and you never knew what you'd find.

I walked outside and saw a plumb of smoke in turn four, white against a lovely blue sky. I hurried to pit road to see what was the matter — there was a clatter of activity — and there was the No. 17 car (DW's) sitting there with a mashed hood and smoke billowing upward.

Oh, oh! I could see my lead and notebook going up in smoke.

I hurried down there, found that Darrell and whoever he wrecked with (Dave Marcis, I think) were fine and got a few quotes.

I rushed back to the press center and made the Bill Elliott story my feature for Sunday. Naturally, I made the Darrell Waltrip piece my lead story for the next day, and I reworked my notebook so I had a lede (newspaper parlance for the lead of a story) note to replace DW.

As I recall, there was more to it than a wreck. I don't think they used radios in practice back then, and this wreck may have produced a rule that forced Cup teams to use radios during practice. Perhaps that came out while we were writing; maybe it came later. I don't remember.

I didn't rush, but within an hour and a half after I saw the smoke, the stories were done. I'd used my copy-editing skills to craft what I'd already written into something almost totally different.

The guys at the News and Courier (it became the Post and Courier a few years later) probably had no idea what I went through, and they wouldn't have cared.

It was the first time I'd had to deal with something like that, and I found it exhilarating. I was dealing with "breaking news" of the sports kind, and I didn't mind the extra work at all.

It was a good weekend all around. Elliott and Waltrip both raced on Saturday, I filed my stories for Sunday, then stopped somewhere in northern Florida and watched "The Jetsons" movie. Then I ate somewhere and headed home.

I expected the extra work to be a pain in the butt. Instead, it was fun.

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com BLUESKY: PROFILE