Friday, July 09, 2004

Flirtin' with Freelance Disaster


Well I'm travelin' down the road,
I'm flirtin' with disaster.
I've got the pedal to the floor,
My life is running faster.
I'm out of money, out of hope,
It looks like self-destruction.
Well, how much more can we take,
With all of this mass corruption.

When I'm not listening to books on tape during my commute from the Detroit area to Ann Arbor, I get myself pumped up for the day using my poor-man's iPod: Mixed music tapes, some of which are so old and muffled-sounding I think they date back to my high school years ('79-'83). I'm a believer in the power and meaning of randomness, and so it really did not surprise me when Molly Hatchet's "Flirtin' With Disaster," circa 1970-whatever, was the next song up when I popped the tape in on the Walter Reuther Freeway this morning, on my way to my last day of work at Small Times.

I left Small Times Media today when my position as news editor was eliminated as part of a reorganization.

However, I plan on continuing the work I began at the magazine and Web site three years ago. There is still a great deal to build for the future – for my family and for this small, but wide-open, subject that I write about.

I've collected a great deal of information and insight about nanotechnology's political, cultural, financial and scientific progress over the past three years, so don't count on me tossing it all away and going back to a newspaper copy desk. I'm organizing the notes I've collected these past three years – three very key years in the history of nanotechnology – and I have a pretty compelling story to tell.

If you're a book publisher and are interested in reading about what I saw at the nanotechnology revolution, or if you're a magazine editor who needs an expert analyst, commentator or straight news professional, please let my nanosecretary show you in to my office.

Here's what I do: I tell stories. I tell them simply. And I tell them in a way that is understandable to the industry's real business and financial leaders – the average consumer, the average voter, the average investor, the average reader. They are my true bosses and, ultimately, they will dictate the future course of nanotechnology as a science, an industry, an idea.

Ya'll damn sure know what I mean.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Howard, it looks from the outside like a pure political play, probably based on your too-open advocacy of MNT.

There were 5 members of the editorial staff before your left, according to the cached google page at http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:BIYnJupJIW4J:www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm%3Fdocument_id%3D3628+%22small+times%22+%22about+us%22&hl=en.
And there are 5 members of the editorial staff after the "reorganization" according to the present web page at http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=3628.

In addition, the job description for new copy editor Cheryl Zupan is identical to your old job description:

Howard Lovy
News Editor
Howard supervises an international network of correspondents, directing news coverage for SmallTimes.com. He also oversees Small Tech Advantage and other digital media projects.

So dish, Howard. What really happened?

Anita Campbell said...

Howard, Good luck. Becoming a freelancer could set you free -- focus on the "free" in freelancer.

Let me know if I can help in any way. I'm sure your other loyal readers will be willing to help, too.

Best,
Anita Campbell
Small Business Trends
www.smallbusinesses.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Mr. Lovy,

Best of luck in your new life. At my company, we are always on the lookout for experts for our media relations department. I'm on medical leave right now but would like to extend an offer to register. You may contact me at markrdunn2004-at-yahoo.com. It may lead to something for you.

Regards,
Mark