Writing in retirement: trying to get it write, er, right

Working in three directions at once is harder than it looks

Since the beginning of this writing venture on Substack ten months or so ago, I have been blessed with a myriad of potential topics to address.  But one topic that keeps popping up that I am going to address one more time has almost nothing to do with sports.

That issue is “retirement.”

Just the briefest of reminders that I began this endeavor a few months after retiring in June of 2021—a time when I had just pulled myself out of a funk punctuated by the loss of both my parents, and a stressful end to my teaching career that included a nine-day stint in the hospital with Covid.  (This paragraph is for those who might have never read my work before or simply forgot).

After a slow start, the stories came together rapid fire—and have included a long list of people and subjects: deaths of local sports legends of all measure, the start and end of professional sports careers involving hometown heroes, celebration of Salem-Keizer championships of decades past, updates on the lives of sports legends who had disappeared from public view, and weekly updates on the area where I cut my teeth the past 35-plus years: prep sports. (This paragraph is for those who might not have checked out the archives of my stories on Substack at this link)

What remains a chronic problem isn’t the writing, but my retirement status and what goes with it: other life duties.

Taking on life duties and outside interests in retirement is like spinning plates.

I liken my current life to the old circus act of “spinning plates” on tall, flexible poles.  The spinner has to move around from pole-to-pole, gyrating the pieces of wood to keep the glass discs from falling and shattering.  I watched such an act at the Salem Armory in the mid 1960s at halftime of a Harlem Globetrotters game.  I was amazed by the man moving quickly across half the gymnasium floor. He kept it going for the entire 10-15 minute act.  He looked exhausted.

That exhausted part is all I have in common with the plate spinner from my youth.  Translated: not enough sleep for this dude.  Time management issues are to blame.  The “everyday life stuff” and the writing keep bumping into each other—well, colliding might be a better word.

This week has been typical.  Domestic duties come up like clockwork.  The dishwasher—loading and unloading.  Dumping of trash in the outdoor container. Feeding the dog.  Letting the dog out to… you know.  Letting him in.  Letting him back outside.  Repeat.

If time allows, a little sports broadcasting prep is mixed in.  This time of year, it is prep basketball—twice a week.  The updating of some very simple numbers (thanks to the coaches—and I DO thank them), league standings, power rankings, game score sheets, etc.  It does take a few minutes—more like an hour to ninety minutes, depending on whether the stats have been sent along yet.

Game prep (left); writer’s post exercise abs (right).

There are other items which take up time, but aren’t really tasks in the traditional sense.  Lunch is a big one.  I may not be eating breakfast most days, but my physique is evidence I don’t starve myself.  Sometimes I pick up a bite locally, other times my lovely bride (not pictured due to threats to my personal safety) has prepared some tidbits that I eagerly scarf down.

I do try to (the word is try) exercise on a daily basis.  A foot issue kept me off the treadmill for a period of six weeks, and my mid-section responded by magically expanding.  I got back to the tread and my Pandora tunes this week.

Other items of note are definitely not tasks, but perks of retirement.  Watching some old TV shows from the past: MacGyver, Hawaii 5-0, Walker: Texas Ranger.  And then, there are the naps.  Not very long, but sometimes more than one in the afternoon.  Thirty minutes, maybe sixty.  Just enough to wake up the dog by sounding remotely like a chain saw with a subwoofer.

Any real world tasks left undone during the nap(s) is dealt with the last few minutes before my lovely bride returns home after a long day supervising middle schoolers (you are welcome, Salem-Keizer).

Those are the easy days.  But there are other, semi-regular tasks that crop up to make for a faster paced routine.

On a very recent day, I had to crawl out of bed early to take the dog (hereafter known as Cooper) to the vet.  It was time for his rabies shot—given every three years.  At age 14, Cooper (pictured with yours truly—I am the one with the ball cap) is starting to show signs of aging, including fatty growths, decreased hearing acuity, and dimming vision.  We do share a lot in common in that regard.  His 8:10 am appointment could have been missed, but the car was quickly de-iced to make it across town.  That was followed by a stop at Animal Control to renew his license (which was charged at the nominal senior rate—thank you!), although I had to come back later since office hours had been cut.

Wrapped around that was a stop at a local high school to check signal strength in the gym—which had not been tested since building upgrades were made last winter.  Lunch also was squeezed in at my favorite wing joint.

The author and Cooper (left); the dreaded domestic task of laundry.

That was followed by completion of one of my least favorite thrice-weekly labors: laundry.  You would think two people wouldn’t generate that much dirty clothing.  Wrong.  Between the clothes, towels, and the weekly bedding cleansing, it all piles up in a hurry.  Warning: don’t get caught leaving your significant other’s blouses in the dryer. Don’t ask.

Add in evenings with sports broadcasts (football, basketball) and the day is suddenly filled to the brim.

Now, to do some writing.  Wait.

This is where things start to unravel a bit.  Sometimes I write during the day, in between loads of laundry, typing away until a nap creeps across my consciousness.  Other times, actual interviews are conducted that form the basis for those stories.  You get the idea.

When the afternoons are filled with the aforementioned domestic tasks, or with special events like hanging out with fellow retirees (you know who you are), the writing shifts to the evenings, but usually not until after my bride settles down in bed.  There are even times when interviews are conducted in the dead of night—mostly with European subjects who communicate via personal messenger on Facebook.

The late-night work creates its own problems—mostly in the form of sleep until mid-morning, sometimes until noon or a little longer.  Want to mess with your sleep cycle? Write at night more than one night in a row.

That is the direction this particular “column” is headed, and so I will be shutting the writing down in just a minute or two. I will likely go through what has been written so far and proofread.  There is a reason that newspapers have editors. (For the record, I found several dropped words, missing pronouns, and a few unreadable sentences.  I also made a few word changes. There will more editing coming before it is all said and done.)

The towering Gary Horowitz removing the radio station sign at game’s end.

Sometimes, my part-time work crosses over between broadcasting and the writing.  My radio partner Gary Horowitz and I don’t just show up at the game site and start talking.  I come early to set up the various pieces of equipment (mixer, computer, microphone, headsets), conducting pregame coach interviews and gathering starting line ups, and putting up the giant station banner announcing our presence—Gary takes care of breaking down the sign.

At our last game, we had what is called a “stacked” schedule, with boys and girls games at the same site.  I finally had a chance to make contact with a pair of girls coaches for writing purposes.  They were both accommodating when I requested a profile photo.  These opportunities also mean extra work because the photos have to be transferred, re-sized and saved on the computer—later.

Unsuspecting photo subjects: West Salem’s Coach Katie Singleton (left), North Salem’s Coach Page Love (right).

All these little extras sometimes sit for days at a time while home chores are completed, or my bride and I go out for dinner or visit with friends—all the elements that are part of being a happily married couple.

There is that balance issue again.  With my wife’s retirement coming in March, our lives will change yet again.  How will that blend with this writing effort?  That remains to be seen.

For now, the online writing is continuing, but at a reduced rate for the time being.  I also have some commitments with the Salem-Keizer Beacons organization which are also on the calendar, and I am slightly behind in writing for them—for now.

I want to repeat my thanks to the group of readers who take a moment to drop to the bottom of the page and drop a comment or make a suggestion.  This article isn’t really aimed at generating comments—only to take a moment to explain where this venture stands presently.

Thanks for reading.