I could be a steelworker

I lived in Pittsburgh as the last of the steel mills were dousing the fires and shuttering the doors. It was grim, a time I remember as constantly and ominously cloudy. Families out of work, steelworkers with no notion of what they would do next since “next” had never occurred to them as necessary.

Now, I am wondering is my profession going the way of steel? Could I be a steelworker? Here are a couple of blog posts on the topic:

Susie Bright's Journal

Seth Godin's Blog

I’m not a book author and I don’t write for mainstream publications. But when newspapers, magazines, and all those other print publications lay off their staffs, when DC association communications departments can communicate with one-quarter of the staff in one-eighth of the time, I wonder for whom these bells are tolling?

And I don’t want to be a steelworker with no “next.” I know I will be a writer and editor until I can’t hit the keys any more. But I need to rethink the way I make my living and the environment in which I do that. Hard thinking.