At some time last week, I received this question from the Tumblr Ask feature:

About two years ago, I (like you) decided to go back to school after an extended absence. An absence of six years to be exact. During that period, I came to the realization that I wanted to pursue a career in (music) journalism. Which doesn’t seem like a great idea right now, but I digress. My question is: As someone who was a music journalist, do you have any words of wisdom or advice for someone like me?

Thanks for your time,
Michael

I wasn’t sure I wanted to tackle this question on my own, so in the spirit of internet collaboration, I sent an instant message to my friend Trevor Kelley and tried to hash out a real-time reply. Trevor, like myself, is a recovering music writer whose work has appeared in Alternative Press, Spin, Paste, and others; these days, he is one of the editors for MySpace Music. He’s also one of my best friends whose opinion I greatly respect. Here’s how we covered — and veered — from the topic.

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