Lost my Esquire.com weekly column

Just no budget there, so the .com side of the house dials back to just John Richardson writing a political blog. He's already on salary as a "writer at large," as opposed to my--essentially free-lance, sub-contractor--status as "contributing editor" (meaning, I cost extra whenever I get something published), so I can't beat his price.

So I close out with 34 columns in total, including the original two I did as a sub for RIchardson's column. Probably about 36-37,000 words in all.

I will admit to some relief regarding the requirement to do two columns every week, although I liked working with the editor of the site, Matt Sullivan. Still, it kept me busy during a stretch when I could not get into the print magazine (2009 was not kind to the contributing editors).

Thus, one hopes that my piece in the Feb issue augurs well for 2010. Obviously, I enjoy being associated with Esquire and wish the magazine well as it continues to adapt itself to the post-crash era (unlike so many newspapers and other mags that simply disappeared).

But, as usual, the only constant is change.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to be on the lookout for other opportunities, simply because I love to write.

Comments

[Ted O'Connor]

Two columns a week seems like a full time job. You know the quote "First we kill all the lawyers"...the next line should be "Then we kill all the fact checkers." Writing is so much easier when you don't have to worry about details.

[Jacob]

Pity that you're gone from there. Hopefully you can get more stuff published in print rather than just on the web.

[Andrew Stewart]

How about the NYT? Friedman vs Barnett.. the Battle of the Toms.

[David Sutton]

Gad nabid, I was just getting back into Esquire! - one more sane vioce lost from .com magazines.

Do we still get the print piece?

[Elmer Humes]

I too will miss your Esquire.com pieces. Speaking of Friedman I just read his latest NYT article on Afganistan which I enjoyed but was surprised to find most of the 200+ comments from around the world to be quite critical.

[Tom Barnett]

Yes, the print piece will still happen in the Feb issue, out in early Jan.

[Tom Barnett]

Best part: I will make as much on the Feb piece as I did writing a column for 8 months!

Shows you how little you get online.

[Chinese Guy]

Keep it up Tom - we read you here in Asia with great interest. I have to say you're the only Western commentator on China who knows what he's talking about. I always recommend your webblog to all my Western friends.