This week we shine our Editor Spotlight on Brookston, editor of the Beer page on Topix. Affectionately known around Topix HQ as "Beer Guy", Brookston was one of the first editors to sign up when we launched our user editor platform, and he is still editing up a storm today.

Why did you want to come a Topix editor?
I've been writing about beer or otherwise been in the beer industry for over fifteen years and most recently was the general manager for a national beer magazine, the Celebrator Beer News. A little over two years ago, my son Porter was diagnosed as autistic and I stopped working full-time in order to be home with him. At that same time I began freelancing for a variety of beer publications. A year and a half ago, I also started a blog, the Brookston Beer Bulletin, in order to track the news in the beer industry that I was writing about. Since I was already using several internet resources to keep track of beer news, including Topix, I figured I may as well collect them into one place and editing the beer page for Topix offered a simple way to do that, freeing me to concentrate on analysis and opinion on my blog.

How much time do you generally spend a day editing?
At least an hour, but usually more than that. I try to check the Newswire at least three different times throughout the day. Since I work from home, I'm online almost constantly — apart from taking care of the kids (I now also have a two-year old daughter, Alice) — and working.

Where else do you find articles, outside of Topix?
I use several Google News alerts of keywords for my field and have also set up an Grazr bar using OPML that tracks RSS and Atom feeds for every other beer source I know of that has a feed. Plus, I have many contacts within the beer industry and get tips from them and as an established journalist also receive press releases from all of the major beer companies.

What are some editing pitfalls you've learned to avoid?
Not all press releases are newsworthy, of course, and you have to decide which will be of interest to readers and which are simply self-serving attempts to get free publicity.

What is your prior editing and writing experience?
As I mentioned earlier, I've been writing about beer since around 1991 when I published my first book on beer. Since then I've also been the beer buyer at a major chain of liquor stores and the GM of the Celebrator Beer News. I'm also an active beer judge and evaluate beer at competitions small and large. For the last few years, I've been freelancing for all of the major beer publications, as well as the occasional general circulation magazine.

What question would you like to ask other Topix editors?
What do you do about keeping up with your page while on vacation or out of town?

What do you when you are not on Topix?
Most of my time is spent with my family, but when I do have time to myself I like to read and listen to music. I also collect View-Master reels and take stereo photographs. My wife and I love watching films and traveling. Of course, I also enjoy drinking beer.

What is your editing environment like? Do you post from work or home?
I work from home. I have a home office set up in one room of my house. I check the internet and e-mails when I first wake up and then after the kids are in their pre-school. The rest of the day is split between household chores and working just so I'm not sitting at one place all day. In the evening, after the kids are asleep, I usually work some more on the sofa on my laptop. When I have deadlines for writing assignments, it's harder to be online as much, so that's a challenge to balance.

How else are you involved in your community?
I'm an active member of several trade organizations, including the Brewers Association and the California Small Brewers Association. I'm also active in the brewing community's affairs and events in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is where I live.

What other internet sites do you visit regularly?
Apart from other beer websites, blogs and forums, I use a lot of reference-based websites in my work. I also read political websites like Salon and AlterNet regularly. And I'm on eBay quite a bit. A guilty pleasure is also playing fantasy sports with friends around the country.

What advice would you give to other editors in making a great page?
Learn as much as you can about your subject but never assume you know everything.

Thanks, Brookston. Cheers!