Amy Dickinson is not retiring, however. She’s opening a library in her hometown, taking a stab at writing fiction and continuing as a panelist for “Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell M…
Don’t get it twisted. Longtime syndicated Tribune advice columnist Amy Dickinson is not retiring. She’s leaving “Ask Amy,” the writing gig that she’s had for 21 years, on her own terms and with her own “steam.”
Dickinson said that as someone who hasn’t ever “left” anything — a person or a job — the decision to walk away from her advice column was not an easy one, especially because people may want to frame her departure as retiring. “I am leaving, not retiring,” she said. “I had written a column for Time magazine for a couple of years, but I’d never written personal advice, Q&A type stuff., who was the D.C. bureau chief at the Chicago Tribune had always said to me, ’If you ever want a job … or … be a newspaper reporter …’ But I had a young child at home and there was no way.”
The Freeville Literary Society will have membership cards, where a person will use those old-school stamps that make the thump sound when books are being checked out. “I really wanted kids to enjoy some of the physical experiences of taking out a book,” she said. “It’s a great place to gather.”“I’ve never written fiction before. I am finding it incredibly exciting and fulfilling. … I got a lot going on,” she said. “When I decide to come back to advice, I’ll do it under my own steam.”
“The thing I have learned to do, which I appreciate, is I let the readers correct me. The third letter in my column is always a reaction to a previous column,” she said. “I have learned to be much less defensive about standing my ground behind my point of view, and I have really been happy to turn part of my column over to readers who want to take issue with or want to correct me. Receiving critique has been a lesson that I needed to learn.
“It’s always gonna be this mix of pathos and humor,” Thomas said of his approach. “There’s this line from ‘Steel Magnolias’ that Dolly Parton’s character says: ‘Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion,’ and that is very much how I like to operate.” Thomas’ column will premiere in early July. He said he’s proceeding with excitement but a fair bit of caution.
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