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I've been reading everyone's responses to my letter, and I have to say this is more than I'd ever expected. Thanks to you all, both those saying stick with it and those saying try another field.
One thing I'm curious about--at least one responder called me out for my self-absorbed motivations that got me into this field. I plead semi-guilty, though of course I haven't detailed all my reasons in one letter.
But that makes me wonder--you journalists who've read and responded, what motivates you? Is it something like what I describe, playing out some personal psychodrama? Or more like the responder's sense of civic duty and service to readers?
Either way, I'd love to hear about it--to know what that psychodrama is, or who you picture those readers as being. Especially since, as a few folks have noted, the field isn't exactly hospitable to its practitioners these days.
Oh, and to the folks suggesting the White House beat--I thought about it. But I'm not sure even I could be that passive.
-Shivering Scribbler
