Moving up the ladder; how it feels to be a columnist

My first column appeared in Houston Chronicle last Monday. I had moved to the editorial section in the last week of July, so it took me more than one month to come out with this piece. The reason was not only that I had taken much time to recollect my thoughts; in fact I had been travelling extensively and was too busy.

Beofore leaving for New York and then Los Angeles, I had attended several community meetings in the editorial section. They were held between the editorial page staff and small groups of people representing their respective fields of life.

It was during these meetings that I came to know how to question people who are authority on their subjects, and incorporate their answers in your opinion pieces. Even if you don't have to quote them, you need their help to remove ambiguities that you may have in your mind regarding a topic.

In one such meeting, I was deeply impressed by the knowledge of a hospital system chief who could speak for ages on the health reform issue.

It was at this meeting that my opinion about column writers changed. I once thought it's the easiest thing to be a column writer. I would say one can write whatever one wants to and email that to the editors, without even moving from one;s bedroom. Now I realize it takes a lot of brainstorming, research and interaction with specialists to produce a good column.

I took my write-up very seriously, as I knew I was responsible for each and every word that comprised it. In a news report or a feature, one can get away easily by attributing quotes to other people. But while writing an opinion piece, one has to be as clear as possible and rational in approach.

It's just like preparing a case and presenting it in a court of law. If you have sufficient substance and logical arguments to back it, you win, otherwise you lose. So, I put a lot of effort in it and studied extensively to equip myself with the knowledge that I needed.

This exercise made me condut Computer Assisted Research (CAR), sift through archives, interview people and even consult books. I feared lot of hate mail and criticism coming my way, but fortunately my column earned praise from most of the people who commented on it. By the way my column focused on the flaws in the previous US policies designed for Pakistan and Afghanistan and also carried some suggestions for the future.

Since August 16, I am reading all the stuff published on opinion pages of Houston Chronicle. I have written one and working on another. It won't be a surprise for anybody if I turn a columnist on my return. I have really enjoyed working on my column; the feeling of being someone who can mould public opinion is too great.

I can say during the last two weeks, I tried to master the art of writing a column and practice all that goes into making it a masterpiece.

But this were not all. There were other activities also. For example, I reviewed the handouts that I had received at Poynter, practised the lessons given in Roy Peter Clark's book and participated in public debates over iftar dinners hosted for Muslims, who are fasting nowadays.