At 6 o’clock on a Saturday morning in June, I poured a cup of strong coffee in my travel mug and left my husband with a pile of baby bottles. It would be the first time I spent an entire day away from my then 8-month-old infant. But it was worth it. I was attending my first conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
As a writer and an occasional Perspectives columnist for this paper, I’ve been curious about this organization for a while. Last year, I entered one of its national contests and, to my delight, I won third place for “The Trendiness of Backyard Chickens” column published in the Valley News. However, I was seven months pregnant and decided not to attend the award ceremony in Los Angeles. Soon after, I received a $100 check and a paper certificate in the mail. Although it wasn’t a Pulitzer, it was still thrilling. I vowed that I would attend the next year’s event.
As luck would have it, Manchester, N.H., was named the 2017 conference location. The annual early summer meeting of NSNC (not to be confused with the boy band ’NSYNC) had been hosted in places all over the country. I was happy that some of the best columnists in America would be traveling to the Granite State, and selfishly even more excited that I didn’t have to board a plane.
However, I didn’t know anyone at the conference. I had no idea what to expect, what to bring or what to wear. (Fashion was a trivial piece, surely, but I didn’t want to be the only person in shorts if everyone else was wearing a suit.) I put on my nicest “cocktail casual” outfit, packed up my notebook, and headed to the (little) big city of Manchester.
I joined the party late, on day three of four at the conference. It began on Thursday night with a Fisher Cats baseball game (which later, I heard from one Indiana columnist, had “fabulous park food”). The meatier panels and speakers were all scheduled for Friday and Saturday. I was sad to have missed Friday’s presentation by Brian McGrory, the editor-in-chief of the Boston Globe, but Saturday’s topics gave me plenty of food for thought.
As one would imagine, there was a lot of Trump talk from the columnists. Every other panel seemed to focus on the importance of journalism in a time of political turbulence. (“What the Hell Just Happened? A Political Roundtable” featured a moderator from ABC News, as well as publishers and editors from local and national newspapers.) There was also a lot of talk about the self-publishing industry, the challenges of syndication and the near impossibility of making a living as a weekly columnist for a newspaper. And the highlight of the conference was a speech from New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who received the NSNC columnist of the year award and spoke of the absurdity of trying to keep up with politics in the last year.
But what struck me most was the camaraderie of the group. Considering that many writers are competing for similar audiences, I expected a little more ego and was surprised to find a lot of humility. It was also interesting to meet such a diverse cast of characters. NSNC was not just for newspaper columnists. Members were also bloggers, editors, publishers, comedy screenwriters and self-help authors. Many wanted to be the next Ernie Pyle or Erma Bombeck (in an age when most people don’t remember Ernie or Erma) and all had something to say. It was an older group, peppered with a few youngsters, all searching to find relevancy in an age of social media. They leaned on each other for support, for inspiration, and mostly for a reminder that writing still matters.
As a bonus, it was lovely to meet so many Upper Valley folks at the conference. Imagine my surprise when one morning speaker revealed that Lyme was her home. Another panelist, a literary agent there from a big publishing agency, shared that she split her time between New York and the Upper Valley. And humor columnist Gina Barreca gave her alma mater, Dartmouth College, some love during her keynote address. I always knew that the Upper Valley was home to a lot of talented writers, but I surely didn’t expect the noticeable representation at NSNC. (A political columnist from Arkansas with whom I had lunch asked me, “what’s in the water up there?”)
I love newspapers. I love reading them and writing for them. The money isn’t good for columnists, nor is it easy to find someone a publisher. However, I can’t imagine a Sunday without blueberry pancakes and a freshly printed newspaper full of columns, both just waiting to be devoured.
In a time when anybody with a computer can publish whatever they want, it was refreshing to attend a conference for journalists who care deeply about preserving the integrity of the craft. It was clear throughout the conference that NSYNC hopes to nurture and inspire the next generation of columnists. (A highlight was a scholarship given to a college student who wanted to study journalism.) And after having attended, I have a feeling the next Ernie or Erma might live in our valley home.
Becky Munsterer Sabky lives in Norwich.