I learned today that I feel intimidated in the presence of the masters. Learned when I began to write this blog entry, the first of many that will appear on Overdrive magazine’s web site.
Greetings to my new readers. My name is Phil Madsen. I am a truck owner-operator who has been blogging elsewhere on the web since July, 2007. I was surprised and honored to receive a phone call from Overdrive, inviting me to include my daily blog entries on their web site. It seems that they want to expand their content by including certain truck driver blogs. It was easy for me to say yes since I blog anyway, and since the magazine is agreeable to posting my content unedited.
I have been known to let it fly at times in ways that might offend certain players and sponsors in the trucking industry. The understanding is that if the magazine deems my content to be too off-base or too inflammatory, that day’s entry will simply not be published. Those are the rules. My content will not be edited but it must be approved. If it is not approved, it will not be published on the Overdrive site.
That is not only fair, it is ideal. My blog is entitled “Learning Something New Every Day.” I started it as an exercise in self-expression. I also blog to create a record of the experiences my co-driver wife Diane and I have together on the road. We love it out here. One of my biggest fears is that we will forget the good and bad times we had when we get too old to drive and have to come off the road. Blogging every day is a way to keep the memories alive. It is also fun to share our experiences with anyone who cares to read about them.
Overdrive publishes its magazine and web content for different reasons. When I post my daily blog entries on the Overdrive site, I am playing in their sandbox by their rules. I am a guest in their house and it is right and proper that what they say goes. I remain free to post whatever I want on my web site and will continue to do so.
Who are the masters that are intimidating me today? They are the professional truckers who read Overdrive and the professional writers, journalists, editors and publishers who bring the magazine fresh into the world each month.
Diane and I are not heavy haulers with 30 years of trucking experience. We have never even driven a truck with a standard transmission, and the truck we drive is not even a big rig. We are expediters driving a straight truck. I am not a writer who majored in English in college. I still wince when I think of my eighth-grade grammar classes. I don’t have the time to delve deep into important trucking topics and develop sources like the Overdrive journalists do. I’m just a guy who happens to drive a truck and write a blog.
The Overdrive community is filled to overflowing with truly great masters of their respective trades. I am humbled and honored to be invited to share my words in the Overdrive space.
