A NEW LIFE: Journalists on how they reinvented themselves - Part 3 - Julie Hutchinson

I asked journalists to share their stories of how they reinvented themselves. At this time of great disruption in the business, I hope it's encouraging for those caught in the storm to see that there's life after newspapers. If you'd like to share your story or know someone whom I should ask to participate, please let me know.

Julie Hutchinson - former newspaper reporter (Austin American-Statesman, Boulder Daily Camera, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News)


It’s not like I stopped being a journalist just because I stopped working for a newspaper. The instincts that made me a journalist didn’t disappear with the paycheck.

Living life after newspapers, I’ve learned that those instincts that made me a journalist are part of who I am. And I realize that they make my life a lot more interesting.

For one thing, in a world where not everyone to my left or my right or at the desk in front of or behind me lives by the same instincts, I’ve learned that asking questions isn’t natural for the rest of the world.

I might ask a checker at the supermarket about the unusual spelling of her name and discover her parents had wanted her to be a boy. Or ask about the class ring on the finger of a nervous young server at a restaurant and discover he’s writing his first novel. Or make an observation about the spectacularly groomed moustache of an elderly gentleman in the seat next to me and watch it unleash details of an astonishing life story.

Working as a newspaper reporter trained me to produce something that’s real and of value, preferably every day. Now, that thing of value might be baking a cherry pie or writing a press release for a client or running an errand for my elderly father.

But growing up and becoming middle aged in the city room of a metropolitan daily newspaper formed me in ways I can’t undo.

Whether you end up retired, or changing careers, or working in new media, you will always be more curious, more observant, more demanding of yourself and more interested in the lives of others because you worked as a journalist.

You’ll be the one who volunteers to produce your club’s newsletter, or your town’s history book, or your family’s memoirs. You’ll be the one asking questions at the end of the lecture. You’ll be the one debunking your neighbor’s latest doomsday prediction.

I don’t have a daily newspaper to work for any more. But the instincts that helped me in my work as a newspaper reporter have helped me adjust to a new life.
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Here's a link to Julie Hutchinson's Web site.