Today we’d like to introduce you to Gail Worley.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m a writer and photographer living in Manhattan. During a lengthy career as a freelance music journalist, I wrote for Modern Drummer, had regular columns in Request and Rockpile magazines, and contributed to dozens of other print and online publications, writing mostly about music and interviewing musicians. I started my own website, Worleygig.com, 20 years ago, where I write about art and design, food and product reviews, and generally let the website mirror how I live my life, which is to absorb as much culture and have as much fun as possible.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There was a rough moment of transition, I suppose, when I had to move from covering music to writing about art and design, which became my new passion when I stopped liking popular music and was no longer interested in writing about that. I’ve also had some challenges with the technical aspects of operating a website, being hacked, or having to rebuild the site for various reasons. I always bounce back, though, better than ever.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Since I only answer to myself, Worleygig.com allows me to have a singular and unique voice. I think people especially love my sense of humor that comes through in my writing, my photography, the images I use in my articles, and how I’m able to get an interesting perspective on life in Manhattan. It’s no secret that I love the color pink, and something that’s very popular on Worleygig is the Pink Thing of The Day (which runs every Friday) where I write about something pink that I’ve discovered in my travels. It’s always something different and fun. I’m very proud that I’ve built Worleygig.com into an extremely successful website over the course of two decades. My never-give-up attitude sets me apart from many of my peers who’ve stopped operating their websites for various reasons. I don’t see myself ever stopping. I am happiest when I’m writing and putting together an article with fun images for the site.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
I am very much a self-made person. I would say I’ve been lucky, but I’ve also worked very hard to get where I am and to build the site into what it is now. I’m always trying to figure out a way to improve my skills, and to work on the backend of the site so that everything runs properly. I think you have to make your own luck and have an attitude that things are going to work out just because you want them to. There have been ups and downs, sure, but I have a good support system when I need help with something that’s beyond my technical skill set. Also, it really helps to get positive feedback from readers and to see my traffic increase over the years.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://worleygig.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worleygigdotcom/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100030708117152
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/WorleyGigDotCom
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/worleygigdotcom/
