[3] Williamson moved in 1979 to Wyoming,[4][1] where he worked on a drilling rig in the gas fields.
[3] He then wrote the book Roughnecking It (1982) and later said "It was the best year of my life, and I made lasting friends.
[4][1] In 1989 he started writing for Chronicles, where he wrote the columns "The Hundredth Meridian" and "What's Wrong With the World".
[3] The book The Hundredth Meridian (2005) is a collection of columns he wrote for Chronicles, in which the Western landscape becomes a character in itself.
[3] Williamson has also written for the publications Catholic World Report, Harper's, The New Republic, Commonweal, The New Leader, The American Spectator, Crisis [5] and The Nation.