I need a new beat

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In 2006, TIME’s new editor, Rick Stengel, called me into his office. “What do you want to do here?” he asked.

“I want to keep writing,” I said. Financial considerations may someday force me into an editing job, I told him, but for now I want to manage like I want scabies.

“What do you want to write about?” he asked.

“The workplace,” I answered, without hesitation. I had given this some thought for some time. Writing and reporting on work would let me straddle my two broad areas of interest and experience, which were business and human interest topics. I’d get to write about ordinary people and the thing they do the most, next to sleeping. I’d get to suss out trends, check out interesting jobs, and for the most part avoid long, boring lunches with hoity-toity CEOs and other boldface names.

Doesn’t sound so bad, right? In fact, I adore my beat. It’s just that I’m rarely on it. Type my name in the search box on Time.com and scroll through my recent stories in TIME magazine. Over the past two months, I wrote about rich couples having giant families; how I’m totally stressed out trying to be environmentally conscious; the changing face of fatherhood; and a new breed of expatriates.

They were all great assignments, and I was pretty proud of the results. Many of them touched on or even centered on my chosen topic, but the editors chose not to call them workplace articles.

As 2008 begins, I’m giving some thought to where I want my writing career to go. It seems clear to me that we’re in an age when journalists are becoming brands. If I had a sub sit in for me for a month in this here space, would you keep reading? (All right, don’t all cheer at once.) And if I were to shape myself as a brand, what do I want the brand associated with?

Here’s the thing. Jim Poniewozik covers TV. Lev Grossman writes about video games. Joel Stein’s beat is food. To do their jobs, Jim watches Heroes; Lev plays Halo; Joel eats horse.

And me? I write about…work. To do my job, I…work. You see where I’m going here? What’s wrong with me that I would pick—out of all the beats in the world to cover—work?

So help me. I need a new beat for 2008, friends. I have some ideas, and I’m going to run them by you soon. But I need yours. Tell me what you think I should cover—what you’d like to read more about online and in the magazine, and would allow me to spend my workdays in five-star spas. In comments, onegaishimasu.