Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. set to write next chapter after retiring from daily newspaper role

MIAMI -- Nationally published OpEd writer Leonard Pitts Jr., a mainstay at the Miami Herald who is set to retire from his daily column, spoke to CBS 4 Wednesday to reflect back on his career while also talking about what comes next.

In an interview, Pitts, a Pulitizer Prize-winning journalist, said it was time to begin his next act.

"I am going to write books and just enjoy life," he said during the live interview. "I've got a lot of stuff to keep me busy."

Pitts, 65, is retiring to become a full-time author after he previously wrote four other books.

He joined the Miami Herald in 1991, and according to the paper "first as a sharp-eared music critic with a deep love for classic R&B, then as a columnist tackling such complex subjects as culture, race, poverty and politics.".

Asked about what his favorite career moments were, he said winning the Pulitizer Prize and his column about the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

But he said successfully meeting his bi-weekly column deadline was "the whole trick" of "head down doing the job."