How I (accidentally) became the editor-in-chief of Old School Gamer Magazine.

Stepping into a leadership role often comes from a mix of opportunity, persistence, and a genuine love for what you do. You know, drive, dedication, focusing on your goals, all of that motivational nonsense. In this instance though, I had no goal in mind, I was just having some fun, and before you know it, BAM, I get promoted... twice! What the heck just happened?

It all started with a single article

About three years ago, I wrote a piece about Akalabeth for the Old School Gamer Magazine website. It was really small, only about 500 words, but it caught the attention of the publisher, Ryan Burger. That initial recognition opened the door to writing for the print magazine. Writing about retro gaming in general and the Apple II platform in particular was fun as it is a big passion of mine, and a number of people contacted me through my website to tell me how much they liked my writing. The positive feedback encouraged me to keep going (I'm a sucker for compliments), and soon I was part of the magazine’s regular staff of writers.

Oops, I'm doing free work

Being on the email list of authors gave me access to preview copies of the magazine before publication. This was distributed so that the authors could check their articles for errors or corrections, but of course being a perfectionist I looked over the entire magazine for errors, not just my own stuff. I sent detailed notes to the publisher, identifying all of the typos, layout issues, and factual mistakes that I could find, and continued to do this every issue moving forward.

Becoming associate editor

After about six months of this, I was invited to become the associate editor. This promotion didn't change my duties; after all, I was already proofreading the entire magazine. The only difference here is that my title reflected what I was doing. So, now, instead of doing it because I enjoyed it... yep, it was now my job. How do all my hobbies turn into jobs? Oh well.

Fortunately, I was still having fun

For a couple more years, I focused on my new role as associate editor. I was still writing articles, although not every issue included an article from me as I was slightly more focused on editing than I was before. I developed processes to streamline article reviews, because makes a lot more sense for the raw text to get edited BEFORE it is laid out in the magazine, don't you think? <insert exaggerated eyeroll here> The publisher also called upon me a bit more often with questions about what direction I felt we should go with a number of big decisions he was making.

And now, I'm the Editor-in-Chief

Eventually, the opportunity to become editor-in-chief came along. As before, the promotion was not my idea, but simply a shift in my title to match what I was already doing for the magazine, because I was handling more than just writing and proofreading at this point. I was working closely with Tristian Ibarra, the (awesome) new lead layout editor, and helping to direct the magazine's overall vision. I'm still having fun, but it's definitely a bit of a time sink.

What's my takeaway from this?

This whole process taught me several important lessons:

• Passion opens doors, but persistence keeps them open. Writing that first article was just the start. Consistently following up with detailed feedback every issue, and taking on new roles without being asked, showed my dedication.

• Competence plus consistency is uncommon. It's just not normal for people to be both skilled and dependable at the same time, especially if they are volunteers or not highly paid.

• Don't get used. Once the door is open and you step through, make sure you are either (A) still having fun, or (B) are getting well compensated for what you do - Hopefully both!

• Be mindful of your time. My hobby turned into a job, mostly by mistake. Now, I have a pretty big time commitment that consumes a good chunk of my weekend before we go to print. So, even if you do enjoy it and you're being paid well, carefully consider the impact it has on the rest of your life.