My New Job: Editor-At-Large, Washingtonian magazine

"It's official," wrote Garrett Graff in an email this evening, and so now the news can be shared with you. I have taken a postion as editor-at-large with Washingtonian magazine. It is the same position Garrett held before he became editor. I will be contributing to "Capital Comment" and washingtonian.com, and also do interviews and stories. That's the rough outline from Garrett, but no doubt more focus will come when I start work Oct 24.

In mid-August, with the book tour finished, and my advance gone, I began job hunting, not sure of what would be out there. My wish list went like this:

1. Mail order bride for a Texas oil baron
2. Anywhere other than DC
3. The corporate world

Media was not on the list - at all - mostly because I had no desire to return to TV from whence I came. I'd worked in network news for 30 years, small business ownership made me a grown up, and TV is not a comfortable fit for grown ups.

I considered corporate communications and, remarkably, there were job offers! Also, healthcare, which means a lot to me. It's a challenging and important field. I also explored academia. What I heard over and over was the general desire to hire "experience" and "maturity." So baby boomers, there's hope.

But when Garrett presented the idea of being his editor at large, I was intrigued. I worked for a magazine, Time, long ago, but it is a weekly. I'd never worked for a monthly. Also, Washingtonian is family owned, which is appealing, and they plan some changes, which I like. It's fun to be part of change. And I like Garrett. We've known each other a few years. Not well, but well enough. He has a solid reputation, as well as an awe-inspiring CV.

The bulk of my experience is in network television, and film production, but in all those jobs, while the title was "producer," or "bureau chief," or "host," I was also a writer - writing scripts, but also writing essays and questions to outline interviews for colleagues such as Charlie Rose, Chris Matthews, Ted Koppel, Larry King and David Brinkley. My first job in television was as Walter Cronkite's writer on The CBS Evening News, which followed Time. Basically, I've always been a writer....and journalist.

My background is in national and international news. Not local. But Washington is not a conventially "local" city. Washington is a hub of national and international intrigues, manipulations, events, and so much more, as I have been analyzing on New York Social Diary for four years. In fact, my 4th anniversary with NYSD is tomorrow, Friday.

There's also The Q&A Cafe, which was created ten years ago this month. Amazing, isn't it, that it thrived for a decade? More than 300 notable individuals have appeared for hour-long interviews. Garrett is open to finding a way for me to continue to do the show and to use the transcripts in the magazine. There's much to explore in this regard. The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown is closing Fahrenheit restaurant, where the show has been based for the last two years. They plan to convert the room into a meeting and conference facility. So, we'll see. I love doing interviews. Anyone who has watched the show knows that.

Alsio, I should be able to continue as a contributor to NYSD. Maybe not every single Monday, but still there. As I told my dear dear editors, David Patrick Columbia and Jeff Hirsch, two of my most favorite humans, if I won the lottery tomorrow ... their site would be enough to keep me satisfied for eons. But I have a child in college and a mortgage...and monstrous debts...so!

Still open, though, to being a mail order bride for a Texas oil baron. I'll throw it all over for that job.

Im writing this from the back of a very bouncy taxicab, so...more later.
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