... editors who pigeonhole multifaceted writers aren't too smart.
I'll never forget Ed Matunas's comment when I told him that I'd like for him to send me articles on guns other than shotguns (and on handloading for other kinds of guns). I'd "hired" him mainly to replace a shotgun writer who'd quit in a huff because I wouldn't use stuff that he was selling to other magazines, and Ed had assumed that all that I wanted from him was shotgun stuff.
"Why don't you ever send me anything on rifles or handguns?"
"You mean I can?"
"Absolutely! And I wish you would."
"Oh, that opens-up whole new worlds!"
'Deed it does.
... and that's why I hope that writers whose other Editors pigeon-hole 'em will send me their other stuff for Smokelore.
One heart-breaking regret that lingers from those days is my failure to get my pal Bill Jordan to send me articles that his Editor wouldn't let him do for their magazine. Bill had absolutely no hobby interest in handguns, which had a plethora of unpleasant memories for him, but he loved hunting big game, varmints, and birds with rifles and shotguns. Too bad that his Editor's narrow vision (which wouldn't let him write about those interests) and his death have lost the rest of us so much good Jordan material.
"Good enough" isn't.
Always take your responsibilities seriously but never yourself.
