Have Pen - Will Travel
Well, maybe a laptop
As a little kid, reruns of Have Gun - Will Travel was one of my favorite TV shows to watch. That was some mighty fine television!
Alas, I haven’t watched it since I was a kid, and I am certainly not a gunman for hire, but in a way I sort of think of myself as a hired gun. Organizations hire me to do their talking for them. Well, if words are my gun. I’ve wondered if I don’t need a fancy belt holster to carry my pen.
Ah, daydreams.
All of this is a long and goofy way of introducing the fact that if you need some work done in my field, I’m currently available.
I do two things:
I lobby the Washington State Legislature
and
I write
I’ll briefly outline both below.
Lobbying
I grew up around our Legislature, hanging around in the halls while my Grandfather served as a Senator. As a young man I was a City Councilmember and Mayor. Then I spent just under twenty years working for the Legislature, some of that time for the House, the remainder for the Senate.
A little over eight years ago, I left that employment and started lobbying.
Over those years I’ve worked for large corporations, and on the other end of things, I’ve worked for a small union.
Mostly though, I work on budget issues. I enjoy that work. I work for a PUD, a couple of Fire Departments, Cities, and even a Town. (Yes, Washington still has municipalities that are officially designated Towns.)
It is work I enjoy, and that I believe in doing.
And I’m pretty darn sure that I’m the best there’s ever been. Maybe there’s some hubris in that statement, but I think there’s plenty of truth too.
If you need someone to lobby our Washington State government, or you know someone who does, I ask for your consideration.
Writing
A great deal of lobbying is done with the written word, much more so now, post pandemic than before it, so I do a lot of professional writing.
I’ve got a mighty extensive background in it. Starting way back in middle-school where my English teacher assured me that I couldn’t write worth a damn and never would be able to write worth a damn. That dude was a tool. The words you are reading now are my revenge on him!
Seriously though, back in the golden age of blogging, I ghost wrote blogs for about ten years as a side hustle. I wrote continuously for Legislators for almost twenty years, and I’ve spent the last eight years or so writing a great deal to Legislators.
I also, of course, because of the pandemic, started this little Substack Empire that you are reading at this very moment.
If you need someone to write or ghost write for you, or you know someone who does, I ask for your consideration.
Please consider this my ‘Will Write For Food’ sign.
Why now?
I’ve never advertised my services in any way before, so why this post today?
My life has changed, and I need something to do!
My professional work, and my Freemasonic work dovetailed together perfectly these past years.
I set things up so that the vast majority of my work time each year would take place during Legislative Sessions. These alternate between roughly two and four months each year. Doing that opened up massive amounts of time that I was able to devote to Freemasonry as I tackled Grand Lodge responsibilities.
I specifically chose the year I made myself available for Junior Grand Warden because I was then able to serve as Grand Master in a year in which the vast majority of my work would be accomplished in only sixty days.
That all worked out perfectly. It gave me the time I needed in order to fulfil my responsibilities as a Grand Lodge officer well.
But, I’m done now. My Grand Lodge terms have ended. My time on the Commission on Information for Recognition has ended. My Lodge responsibilities have gradually lessened. So I can live and work like a normal person now. And if I don’t have something to do other than pester her, I’m pretty sure Mrs. Bailey will murder me in my sleep.
So, that’s it in a nutshell.
Around supper time on Sunday the Legislature adjourned Sine Die, freeing up lots of time for me over the next months. In past years I would have filled those months putting a bazillion miles on my car, driving from Lodge to Lodge. Now that time is open, and I’m available for work.
Please let me know if you would like to talk about how I can help.
Our good Brother, Ed Gebhart Jr, my father and an award winning sports writer, often said of writers, "the good ones aren't in it for the money." But he did feed and clothe me and put a roof over my head for about 20 years. It's left me with a soft spot for writers. I'll keep a finger in the wind for any gigs that might be a good fit for you.
PGM BAILEY,
This essay was great reading. In 2015, I retired from Boeing 777 Final Assy Line and Everett Lodge No. 137. My new abode was in a small town 40 miles N. if Tampa Florida. I visited the local Masonic Lodge, and was shocked silly (they were trying, but I was not impressed)!
So I went to a formation meeting of a Florida American Legion Post. They appeared up and coming. Their monthly newsletter was good, but full of errors. The Editor (a Mason from Athens WV), told me that his Athens High School English teacher told him he was a lost cause. He admitted that he couldn't read the words on his computer display screen, and his sentence structure was faulty. I asked if I could be his proofreader (he was overjoyed)! He would accept my advice, and alter about 90% of the almost 40 changes I recommended when looking at his drafts.
Well, for 3 years, he got to walk up at Annual Florida State American Legion Conventions and accept an Award for the best American Legion Post monthly newsletter in the State of Florida. Since then, he has been Post Commander, and helped us rent a new facility. I stayed in the background, but shared his pride evident in the photos of his Award Presentation. He has passed away, but I was able to play TAPS on a real Bugle at his Burial Ceremony in Bushnell Nat'l Memorial Cemetery.