The Stories are Gone

I took my son to the library for Story Time again today. Afterward, I asked the librarian a question I've been wondering about since 2007.

Where can I find my old clips?

In a former life, I was a journalist. First, a copy editor. Then, an assistant features editor. And, finally, the features editor at the King County Journal (formerly the Eastside and South County Journals, formerly the Journal-American and Valley Daily News).

I mostly edited. But I also did some writing. And, when I left the job to go be a suit-wearing corporate editor in 2005, I continued to freelance write for my jeans-clad friends in the newsroom.

In 2006, Black Press Ltd. bought the KCJ and closed it in 2007. With it, the archives. My stories.

I didn't care to print them out or make them PDF documents when I could have. I don't know why. I guess I always thought they would be searchable online. But they aren't.

Not even the library has them. I was told maybe I could find them on film, but it'd be a nightmare unless I had specific dates. Which, I don't.

I don't know why I want them. Maybe because they are a part of my history. What makes my writing experience unique. Or maybe I just need confirmation that I've improved as a writer because some of them were written just out of college and I was not a journalism or an English major.

Today, I got the news I already knew. My stories are gone. But, still. I have to think they're out there somewhere.

I'm talking to you Tale of a Boeing Engineer Turned Pumpkin Farmer, Nordstrom Spring Fashion Preview, Yarrow Bay Gingerbread Recipe.

Where are you?