Adaptation

     Apparently, when I take on a new challenge, I don't start small.
     I classify myself as a vintage — OK, old — journalist. No, I'm not old enough to have worked with typewriters or hot type. When I began, though, we were still working with AP Leafdesks, photo wheels, paste-up boards, waxers and Exacto knives. We had no Internet. Gasp! No Google! Cellphones were huge, antennaed luxury items. Filing stories remotely involved phone couplers and "Trash-80s" or, more often than not for this reporter, writing a story longhand, then standing outside at a pay phone and dictating it in the dark, rain, snow or iron-forge heat.
    But, unlike some colleagues I have had over the years, I do not harbor a fear dread loathing ... an outright terror of advancing technology. If my abrupt, shocking entry into the world of pagination taught me nothing else, it was that things in my industry can change at the drop of a hat, and it's best to just keep learning.
     To elaborate, in 1995, I was working at The Trentonian (yes, the one with the ridiculous tabloid-y news heds and Page Six girls ... don't judge, I was in sports, the legitimate portion of the operation). One day, a bunch of humorless men from JRC corporate swooped into the newsroom for a few minutes and said, "You're live on a new system tonight. It's called 'Quark XPress.' Paginate, or you're fired."
     Then they swooped right back out the door. That was the extent of our official training.
     Luckily, we had one guy, a recent college grad, who had used Quark in a journ lab. He knew enough to get us through that night. After we miraculously produced a section, we went to the bar and had a couple of bracers. Then we went back to the office, where Joe's Quark Night School came to order. For several weeks, we repeated the process every night until another guy and I had learned enough to do it ourselves.
     Of course, that's about normal for me. I've never taken a journalism course of any kind. I was an English major. But, 23 years after writing my first bylined article, nine stops (one of them twice) on the newspaper food chain, two layoffs and a handful of freelance gigs, I'm still standing. I'm not at ESPN or the New York Times or other major metropolitan news outlets like some of my college friends, but I'm still slugging it out in my chosen field 20 years after graduation.
     Why? Because it's adapt or watch the career you can't be you without wither and die.
     Which brings us to the next twist in the road.
     Everyone says newspapers are dying. While I'm hoping that ultimately won't be the case — I mean, come on, where else are you getting information on the day-to-day machinations of your small community? — I realize that there are avenues I should take for self-enrichment and future considerations.
     That's why I started writing this blog. It's not journalism. It's my opinion on a variety of topics. I began not necessarily to gain a following, but to try to get myself in the habit of writing regularly again, and to get a handle on the technology of a blogging platform, because the information industry is growing in this direction.
     But the more I've worked with this blog, the more I've realized it's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There's a teeming Internet society based on commercial blogging efforts. What's more, there are all sorts of conferences for bloggers held on a regular basis all over the country, offering a wide variety of classes/seminars and extensive opportunities for networking.
     In fact, I'm going to one very soon.
     It's not just any conference, either. It's "BlogHer" — the biggest one run. You've seen one of their icons over to the left here for a few weeks now.
     As I said, I apparently don't start small. I'm throwing myself into the deep end here. From what I've been told, there will be between 4,000 and 4,500 bloggers at this gathering, to be held in New York City the first weekend in August. Katie Couric will be a speaker, as will Martha Stewart.
     I was introduced to the conference by my good friend April, with whom I'll be rooming. I've been following along on Twitter, and have been inducted into a couple of Facebook groups of attendees. The planning and hyping online is reaching a fever pitch, and quite frankly I'm feeling a tad overwhelmed. I get the distinct feeling most of the women who are coming (I'm told there will be a few guys there, too) are seasoned pros at this whole blogging-attracting-sponsors-networking thing, and that I'll be at a disadvantage.
     The writing and editing part I'd like to think I'm solid on. It's the business angle on which I'm flying blind, and that's my goal for this whole conference. I have a distinct business idea for future exploration percolating in my mind and on my computer, but I know I need to acquire some additional technical skills and a foundation in marketing for my plan to take root and flourish. That's something the newsroom has never taught me.
     So, here I am again.
     Time to start learning something new.
     Time to take a deep breath and leap.