A FRONT-PAGE OBITUARY MADE ME A PAID WRITER

My bio became “Everyone Deserves a Legacy….” I suppose that was always my M.O., even when I wrote my first paid story as a journalist, covering the obituary of Yair Shapiro, z”l.

That obituary was a front-page story in The Jewish Link, published on April 16, 2015, and I’ve been on the writing staff of the weekly newspaper ever since.

On Thu, Apr 16, 2015, I wrote to my literary agent at the time, who encouraged me to keep writing.
”Hi David,

“Just keeping you updated as promised.  You can see from the links that I have two stories published in The Jewish Link of New Jersey today, and I am now officially a paid writer…”

https://jewishlink.news/roe-anyone-ptcha-eggplant-relish/

https://jewishlink.news/in-memory-of-yair-shapiro-zl/

That second story, the sad one, which I was asked to cover by the Jewish Link, made me a paid writer. Now that I’ve been a journalist for over a decade and a blogger for eight years, I have helped many people leave a legacy.

By blogging stories, for example, “All the Pegs Fit,” I have gotten people together. From that blog post alone, I connected one person to my cousin and reconnected another with him. To me, that’s a great payment for taking the time to write.

Have you thought about your legacy? Maybe I’ll write about you (if I haven’t already).