Welcome to TG Writer

"I write because no one will buy my dreams." – Tom Gillispie

Tom Gillispie:

Writer/Editor/Desktop Publisher/Photographer

Phone numbers: 336-969-9755 (h), 336-692-1063 (c)

Web site: http://www.tgwriter.com

WELCOME TO TG WRITER! It's a pleasure and an honor to have you enter my humble abode. Please step inside, take off your coat, and grab the comfortable chair.

I was a career newspaper writer and copy editor, working at eight newspapers over 29 years, and now I'm a full-time freelancer. I'm a terrific editor and a good writer, desktop publisher and photographer.

If you're a writer or editor of a publication, I can be your best friend. My strengths include tightening, focusing and improving copy. Plus fact-checking. I once read a mystery novel in which the author said that lyes were the same as acids. Lyes and acids are actually opposites; they cancel each other out. My wife contacted him, and he said that he knew that lyes and acids are not the same, but he screwed up, he missed it in galleys, and his editors didn't catch it. I might miss the occasional miscue, but I'd have caught that one. I wish I could have helped him.

As a writer, I'm concise and precise. I can say a lot in few words, and my stories make you feel that you were there. You'll feel the heat off the car's engine or see the driver's bright-red scarf.

Thanks again for visiting. You're welcome to drop by any time and stay as long as you like.

TOM GILLISPIE
Rural Hall, N.C.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

I've written two books on auto racing (Racing Families: A Tribute to Racing's Fastest Dynasties, Beckett 2000; and I Remember Dale Earnhardt, Cumberland House 2001). Cumberland House contacted me in August 2007 and asked me to update I Remember Dale Earnhardt for 2008; the name has been changed to Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt, Sr. The book was released on March 1, 2008.
I wrote comic-book scripts in the early 1990s for Vortex Comics out of Toronto. It was a great experience, since I learned to write visually.
In 1994, I wrote the first cover story for Beckett Racing Monthly. It was on Dale Earnhardt, someone I've since written about extensively.
I'm one of the few people to have written freelance articles for Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, the Washington Post, the Miami Herald, and The (Baltimore) Sun. Who knows? I may be the only person to have written for that group of publications.
When the Winston Cup Series ended in 2003, the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal ran a special tab commemorating NASCAR's top series. I wrote seven stories for the tab, including some of my best work ever. Some of those stories are on this web site in the Clips section.
In September 2006, I had one of my biggest highlights. I wrote all six stories in the Winston-Salem Journal's special section on Wake Forest University's 50-year history in Winston-Salem. Here's the link: http://specialsections.mgnetwork.com/index.cfm?siteid=wsj&project=wfuhist.
I no longer write regularly for the Journal, but it allowed me to be versatile. As far as I know, I'm the only person to write for the Journal's Sports, News, Zones, Features and Niche Publications departments. I've written about everything from a man who fought in the Battle of the Bulge to the best wine lists in Winston-Salem. And I wrote a Features story on guys shaving their heads ("Smooth Operators") that's on this web site under Clips.
The Journal has done special sections on the Healthy Living Expo the last few years. One year, I got to talk to and write about the featured speakers, Olympic gymnastics champions Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci. The next two years, I interviewed Olympic speedskating champions Joey Cheek and Dan Jansen.
For many years, I was a copy editor/writer at newspapers. In fact, every time I took a copy-editing test, newspaper editors tried to turn me into a copy editor. Why? Solid editorial skills, an ability to fix and improve copy, terrific headline-writing skills, and a knack for page design. Besides, I can spell.

STORY FROM MY NEWSPAPER CAREER:

Hanging on for dear life ... and the story

Years ago, I was covering a football game at Northern Nash in Eastern North Carolina, and I used the principal's office to write my story. This was the day of the Bubble computer, a cumbersome abomination compared to the modern notebook, and I was going to send the story in via phone line. No e-mail in those days.

The principal wasn't going to wait for me, so he locked me in his office, and I had to climb out of his window! After writing and sending the story, I opened the window, but I realized I couldn't turn off the light first. So I left the light on. I climbed out the window, holding onto the windowsill with my right hand and clutching the computer case with my left.

Naturally, I couldn't close the window behind me, so I left it open. With the lights on and the window open, there was no security for the principal's office.

I slid down the wall to my full extension, and I realized there was at least a foot of air beneath my feet So here I was, a 250-pound sports writer, hanging to the windowsill with one hand and desperately clutching that computer with the other. After a beat, I dropped into the mud below me, naturally, then slogged my way around to my truck.

Free at last, free at last, free ... Well, actually, no.

I drove to the exit and realized they'd locked the gate! I couldn't drive into a deep ditch to get out, so I had to go back to the principal's office to call the police (no cell phones back then either). I shinnied back up the wall and through the window to make the call.

The only good thing is that, this time, I knew what I faced. I made the call, turned off the light and went over and climbed out the window. I couldn't lower the window all the way, but it was close.

Finally, about midnight, a policeman came by, listened to my explanation at least twice, opened the gate, and I drove a hundred miles home...

With skinned knuckles, a wrenched wrist, bruised knees, muddy shoes and pants legs, and a slightly banged-up Bubble.

Anything for a story.