Works in progress

Pardon me for blowing my own horn, but I was asked to write a column in the Saturday Business section of the Toronto Star, the largest circulation newspaper in Canada. The criteria set out was to describe people I had interviewed during my journalism career and talk about lessons I learned from those sessions.
So far I’ve done five columns: Martha Billes of Canadian Tire, Conrad Black who needs no introduction, former Royal Bank president Earle McLaughlin, real estate developer Don Matthews, and grocer Galen Weston. Weston was the most recent, appearing last Saturday. The column runs biweekly so look for the next one August 10.
Over the years I’ve written for Maclean’s, Toronto Life, Saturday Night, Fortune, and Financial Post among other outlets but never for the Star. So far, I have to say the editors I’ve dealt with have been knowledgeable and helpful, two ingredients you don’t always find in such folks. The Star recently appointed a new editor-in-chief, Nicole MacIntyre, and has a relatively new publisher, Jordan Bitove, so the place is all fired up as a result. I’m happy to be aboard.
The toughest part of my job is editing my own work down to 800 words, which is my assigned length. I start thinking about who’ll be featured next as early as the Monday after a column has run. Once I’ve picked my subject, I start writing and in some cases produce as many as 2,000 words before spending several days editing that first draft down to nearer the permitted length.
Writing is an interesting process because you’re walking with your words all the time. Ideas combust. You decide an anecdote doesn’t work. You polish a particular phrase until it’s just right. Stay away for an hour and you’re drawn back to do touch-ups. Edit a hard-copy print-out. A new train of thought comes along that might be tucked in or perhaps discarded. Finally, off it goes to an editor who always has helpful advice, writes the headline and chooses a photo.
Next comes the surprise part: response from readers. The column on Earle McLaughlin who was retiring after forty-four years with the bank when I interviewed him in 1980 drew emails from his son and his grandson. The column on Conrad Black precipitated numerous outbursts from people who couldn’t believe I found something positive to say about him.
And then, the whole process begins anew. Who to feature? What to say? I can’t imagine having more fun at the keyboard than this.