Free column makes him "syndicated"

My Empty Nest column is in 50 some newspapers, give or take, in three states.  The reason I say “give or take” is because I'm not sure what all newspapers carry my column.  I'm often surprised when someone calls and says they read my column in Yayhoo, Iowa.  I had no idea I was in Yayhoo, Iowa.  The way publishers spread my column around is sort of a mystery.  Maybe because it's free.  Ya think? 
The reason “Syndicated” is in quotation marks, is because, since I write for free, is it technically syndicated?  Beats the pants off of me.  
I'm often asked how I got my column in so many newspapers.  Well, I'll take and tell you.  A long time ago, Emery Styron, Publisher of what was then the Mt. Pleasant News, took me under his wing like a papa rooster.  He had once been syndicated when he was in college.  He told me how to do it.  He would walk into a newspaper office, with no appointment, and ask to see the editor or publisher.  He would present them with a sample of his writing and say they could run it free to test their readers' reaction.  A week or so later, he would call them to see how they liked his writing.  Invariably the newspaper would take Emery on for a weekly submission.  And he charged for it.  By Emery walking in without an appointment, the editor or publisher was associating a face with the writing.  Never ever, Emery was quite adamant, call for an appointment, or fax or email samples of writing.  Newspapers are heavily solicited like hounds after a raccoon. 
I took Emery's advice and personally visited a number of newspaper offices, unannounced.  I had about a 50% acceptance rate.  Now I take Ginnie with me and introduce her as my editor.  With my good luck charm at my side, I have a 100% acceptance rate.  Newspapers love it when they see Ginnie, and know that a second eye has looked over my writing.  They also like how Ginnie looks.  My trophy wife.   
Why do I write for free?  Well, I'll take and tell you again.  When I initially got started, I charged a little bit.  Then one day a reader wrote me and said that my column moved him so much that he carried it in his shirt pocket next to his heart.  I was moved to tears and dropped the charge.  Newspapers with tight budgets and dwindling readership like that, like a jelly-filled eclair. 

Do I ever run out of something to write?  No.  I have a whole home entertainment center in my head that keeps going 24/7, like ants.  Ginnie hears me talking to myself all the time, and has learned to ignore most of it, except “What's for supper?”  My mind is so full of minutia that I could write the entire newspaper and not be tapped out.  Plus, at the end of each column I always ask, “Have a good story?”  And then give my contact info.  I've gotten a wealth of stories in that manner, like panning for gold.  I also invite guest writers occasionally if I know they have something that fits the human-interest nature of my column. 
I haven't missed a week in over twenty years.  It's good discipline and a great creative outlet.  Even on vacation, I love writing from a motel room.  And what's better to write about than what we're doing on vacation, like covering each other with mud in the Dead Sea?
No politics!  Any time I've written anything political, I get so much negative response, some of it vicious, that I don't write anything political.  There's plenty of that anyway without me adding to it. 
I will say one thing.  When I was so sick with cancer and cancer treatment, then my injured knee from a fall, writing was something I could do and enjoy, even in a hospital room.  Writing can get you through hard times with no money, whereas money can't necessarily get you through hard times.
Have a good story?  Call or text Curt Swarm in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526 or email him at curtswarm@yahoo.com.  Curt is available for public speaking.