The Middle Manager

Surviving & Thriving as a Leader

A Whole Year Gone!

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It’s hard to believe, but this blog marks the one year mark since I started writing it in 2012.  I had made a promise to myself that I would have a weekly column and so far I haven’t missed a deadline.  Some have been better than others, some have frankly not been my best work – but there are other articles I’m proud of and happily share with friends and family.

It’s been an eventful year for me.  I’ve been able to do quite a bit of writing for industry and hobby publications, served on the boards of industry groups, worked as the desktop support track chair for the 2013 HDI conference in Las Vegas, led a workshop at the 2012 conference and a session in 2013, was the contest chairman for the 2012 IPMS National convention in Orlando, and wrote a few research papers.  When I see it written down like that, it looks like a lot of work but the truth is they were all enjoyable and educational in their own way.

I have often heard people say that they could never do ‘something like that.’  Meaning that they felt that writing for a magazine or scratch-building a model was somehow out of their reach. The fact is that there’s no real trick to doing any of these things.

All it really takes is desire, time, and effort.  First, you have to want to do it – almost any industry or hobby publication is interested in content.  To get started, volunteer to write on something you’re very familiar and comfortable writing about. Don’t expect payment, just step up and do it.  Take the time to do the research and work closely with the content editors to craft a succinct and informative article.

The same applies to scratch-building a scale model.  There’s no real secret, it’s mostly time and patience.  Be methodical, be willing to try and try again – the fact is that you’ll have false starts and failures, but with patience and dedication they can be overcome.  In no time you’ll be letting your imagination run wild.

So here’s to another year of putting my thoughts into this blog.  Now I need to take my own advice and spend more time at my modeling bench!

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