Just for grins and giggles, I "Googled" my name. I wanted to see how many references I had on the web and take a digital footprint, if you will. During my digital vanity session, I located a couple major magazine articles. One was published in Marines magazine in November of 1998 (page 23) about a specialty counter-terrorism team's training. The other, about drilling water wells along the San Diego-Tijuana border, was published in Soldiers Magazine in October 2003.
I actually never expected the second story to be picked up. My team of Army journalists was covering a large-scale border reinforcement project and had written several excellent articles that I released to a number of military publications and base and hometown newspapers.
As a writer and journalist, I believe I am more critical of my writing than anyone else. Being "thick-skinned" works two ways; not only do you have to take criticism from others, you also have to take it from yourself. But sometimes the editing can make you look like a terrible writer.
