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The Write Course

Through life's twists and turns, reporter's work steered me straight

Editor's note: Steve Johnston's fan club shouldn't worry about not reading his column again. He will spend a few days trying to figure out how to make a million. Then his wife, the Truly Unpleasant Mrs. Johnston, will tell him to get back to work and start writing again. That will be the end of his business adventure.

I ALWAYS THOUGHT that when I grew up, I would go to college, major in business, get a good job, make a few million and retire early.

But somewhere along the way to my millions, my life took a bad turn. Instead of making it in the business world, I became a journalist. Well, "journalist" is a stretch for what I ended up doing. Instead of being a journalist who traveled around the world, covering wars and historic events, I became a newspaper reporter.

While it's a lot of fun, being a reporter didn't pay enough to raise four kids, so I also moonlighted as a columnist to make some extra money.

For example, I've been writing this column as a freelancer for at least 100 years. So writing has bought a lot of hamburger for the Johnston family, even if it hasn't made me a millionaire.

(I must digress here. Speaking of life having a funny habit of getting in the way of your plans, my life has been a series of unexpected events. One unexpected event was being drafted in 1965. At that time, most of the drafted guys were headed for Vietnam. I didn't want to go to Vietnam, so I joined the Navy the day I received my draft notice. I figured I would spend my tour on a ship, safe and sound. But the Navy put me into an outfit called the SeaBees. These are the guys who do the construction work for the Marines. Before I could say "Wait a minute," I was with the 1st Marine Division in Vietnam, where I spent 1966-67.

(When I returned to my hometown of Everett, Uncle Sam said he would help pay for my college education with the G-I Bill. I went to Everett Community College, declaring my major as "Business Administration" because I wanted to be a millionaire. One requirement I had to do on my way to my BA degree and my millions was to take some kind of writing class. I signed up for a course called "Introduction to Journalism," which taught me the importance of the five Ws: Who, What, Where, When and Why. One assignment was to write a profile on a fellow student. I wrote a humorous piece about the hapless kid next to me in the journalism class. The teacher liked it enough that he ran it in the college paper.

(The staff at the college paper used to vote on the best story in the weekly edition, and they voted my humor story as the "best" for that week. The honor came with a $5 check. That's when I discovered I could write stories poking fun at people, from college presidents to newspaper editors to spouses. Not only did I get away with it but I also got paid for it. Who could pass up an opportunity like that?

(I finished my education at Western Washington University in Bellingham and spent the next 35 years as a reporter/columnist for various newspapers. I was always surprised someone would pay me for having fun. I never considered writing a "real" job. A real job was running a business and making millions. Writing was not only fun but it had extra benefits. I met the Truly Unpleasant Mrs. Johnston while I was on assignment in San Francisco for The Seattle Times. I may even have taken her with me for a meal on The Times expense account. I finally married her, but I paid for that myself. I finished my journalism career with The Times. Now I'm through digressing and will get back to writing this column.)

I still write for fun, but I've decided that if I am going to have a career and make my millions, I can't spend my days having fun and writing stuff. Getting rich is serious business! So I'll quit writing and start making millions. As another journalist used to say: Good-bye and good luck.

Steve Johnston is a retired Seattle Times reporter. His e-mail address is stevejonst@aol.com. Paul Schmid is a Times news artist.