Where does your inspiration come from? I got inspired by this recent piece from All About Beer Magazine contributor Adrian Teirney-Jones. As you can imagine, I get an array of reactions when I tell people what I do for a living. To find out I edit a beer magazine and work at beer festivals is a dream job for some people.

It is for me.

I am surrounded by beer and books about beer. And people who write about beer.

But it is anything but easy.

I wear many hats: managing editor, production coordinator, social media content provider, web master. There is never a shortage of things to do or be done. And with a job like this, a fair amount of time is spent “out in the field” because it is a job about building communities essentially. There’s a lot of “people time” involved aside from the sitting at a desk with my emails and word docs and WordPress time.

But at the end of the day, when a magazine goes to press, when people retweet links and when a beer comes packaged in a box full of hops, it is all worth it. Days like that are my touchdowns, they are the days when time spent on the practice field comes together in successful results.

Much like all that time in the fermenter, or mash tun, or barrel – when all the hard work that goes into making a great beer (or great beer story) comes together – and you get results. And you get the results you want.

And life is good.