I am an architect who became a part-time writer by chance and a paid one by necessity.
Back in 2003, a publication I had become interested in called The Patriot Post put out a call for new writers. At the time, the extent of my writing experience was putting together a newsletter for the Young Republican club I had been in as well as the 40 or so GOP voters who lived in my precinct, plus a few letters to the editor that ended up making my local newspaper. Yet I got the job as one of their anonymous scribes.
After I moved to Maryland in 2004, the idea of having my own internet publication took root. At that point, blogging software had become widely available and in 2005 I began a Blogspot site that soon evolved into my own domain and website called monoblogue. Over the next few years, I built monoblogue into a nationally-regarded site that mainly covered local and state politics.
Then came the Great Recession, and I was tossed out of work. Since I had a gig with The Patriot Post, I asked for and received a larger role in its writing, and made it into my first paying gig. A few others have come and gone, but they’ve remained rock-steady for the last 14 years. I also made a few dollars here and there from those who rattled the tip jar or paid for advertising on monoblogue as well as a series of sponsored posts.
While I’ve long since come back to work at my full-time avocation, the appeal of Substack was that I didn’t have to keep fighting to maintain a WordPress site or keep a domain, plus it gave me the opportunity to begin a subscriber-based entity when I felt it was time. In this case, I could follow my passion for baseball as a separate entity but under the same umbrella.
So here I am. I hope you enjoy my page here as well as my eponymous page, which is my Substack with an emphasis on political issues.
