Michael Ludden '73
Major: English
I didn't know I wanted to work for a newspaper until I did.
Let’s just say I was horrible. I was so slow, my editor used to stand in front of
my desk screaming. That was good training. Once a week, I got a check for about what
you would spend on a nice steak today.
A short stint at an afternoon paper followed. It was tiny, compared with The Orlando
Sentinel, where I spent the next 20 years.
I was covering local governments, truck races and donkey auctions until I discovered
bosses who’d let me work on projects and stories so long only your mother would read
them.
Eventually I got a nice office, led a team that won a Pulitzer and became Deputy Managing
Editor. Then, 10 years as a senior writer / editor for CNN.
I quit to write “Alfredo’s Luck,” a novel about a rich kid from Atlanta who decides
to become a cop. Now I’m on my third.
And there’s a collection of short stories, all true, from my newspaper days, like
the time I was surrounded by elephants, or the day I was flying with one of the Blue
Angels and he asked me to take the stick.
Favorite Professors
Bennett Lamond, Norman James, and Bob Day managed to get me to graduation.
Fondest WC Memory
Just the luxury of sitting in a small classroom and talking about books.
Let's Hear It for the Liberal Arts
Washington College made me love reading and showed me what great writing looks like.
Advice
Take the job where you have to do everything.
