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A Year of Transition

So far at least, 2014 has been a year of professional transition, in which old outlets have closed and new ones opened, at times almost simultaneously.

In January, ESPN canceled the "Heavy Hitting Boxing" podcast that I had been recording pretty much weekly since, if I recall correctly, early 2008. That cancellation came at the same time I was fighting to be paid what I was owed for work I had done over the previous couple of months for the Worldwide Leader, and chafing against other contributions I had been making gratis; the combination of all those elements has led to ESPN and I greatly scaling back our professional relationship after eight or so years.

So be it; the news of the podcast cancellation came while I was in Montreal, where HBO had dispatched me to film fight week videos - the first assignment of a new arrangement that further increases the level of my boxing work for HBO, which has been ramping up in increments since I began blogging for them occasionally in 2010 and more regularly in late 2011. Honestly, there have been many times over the past couple of years when I have felt uninspired by and uninterested in continuing to cover boxing; the new HBO gig has me enjoying that part of my life again for the first time in years.

The year has brought new consultancies, some short-term and on a prescribed timeline, others more indefinite in duration: the latter includes some promising and fascinating writing on water issues for The Nature Conservancy; the former includes commissions from the Convention on Biological Diversity and The Pew Charitable Trusts.

This weekend came the news of an end to my contract with Discovery Channel News, for whom I have been blogging since January 2009. It has, candidly, never been the best-paying gig in the world, but it has been a great platform for me to write about science and environmental matters , roughly twice a week, for five years now. It will take some getting used to: I see an interesting news item or press release, and twitch with the urge to pitch a blog about it, only to remember that I now have no blog for which to post. For the first time in a while I have no ongoing outlet for my science writing, and it's unnerving. In the spirit of the rest of the year so far, I am hoping that another venue appears to take its place.
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