My Life Publications has changed my life in many different ways. It is the first full time position in the field of journalism that I've held, we've helped cover the important topics, and we've landed some pretty sweet interviews. It's also helped to change my own personal mindset.
Before working for My Life Publications, I was tasked with covering some pretty heavy topics. I am not the girl who has any interest in politics or hard hitting issues. I have always loved writing feature stories and while I had the opportunity to write them at previous jobs, I never got the chance enough. The constant worry about death, higher taxes, overdevelopment, and political games started messing with my head.
In 2018 when I started with My Life Publications, I was in a really bad place mentally. I was stressed out about money (newsflash: that stressor will never go away), I knew that my health insurance was running out, and I realized that I needed to find a full time career pretty fast. I was burnt out.
Working as a stringer (freelancer) at the time, my freelance journalism money was never enough to pay my bills. As side jobs, I was babysitting five days a week, travel blogging, and occasionally writing for other publications. I was in desperate need of a change in my life.
I went to a street fair to cover it for the newspaper. While wandering around talking to some of the attendees, I met this woman named Paula Battle. I wasn't expecting to meet another publisher, but thank God I did. We discussed how she was working with a company to start a new news publication in town and she was interested in finding writers. I gave her my business card and she promised that she'd pass along my information to the proper person.
A few days later, I got an email from the publisher himself. My now boss Joe Nicastro reached out to let me know that they were definitely interested in hiring me on a freelance basis. I was excited to have another outlet to make money and was eagerly waiting to get started.
I wrote a few magazine pieces for Denville Life as I started out. My first article appeared in the inaugural edition of the magazine. When I saw it in print, I couldn't believe how good it looked! I threw myself at more articles for the next edition and eventually found myself writing mainly for these publications.
In November of that same year, I got a phone call from the publisher. Their editor had decided to quit and they were in desperate need of someone to fill her shoes. I had zero editorial experience, but this was a full time job. I met with the publisher for an informal interview on a Friday morning and by Friday evening, I had taken the job.
My first story for Denville Life, September 2018
When I started out, I took a huge leap of faith as the editor. I had never done anything like this before. My first day I was a nervous wreck. I was afraid I was going to screw things up and mess up the system. I individually called all of my writers to introduce myself and find out what topics they enjoyed writing most about. I started to organize our back end Google Drive into a system that worked for me. As each day passed, I got more and more confident.
As the editor, I am responsible for all the content, across all of our platforms. I oversee the website, the social media, and press releases. I decide which stories make it into our publications and which ones just don't fit our needs. I schedule interviews and make initial contacts for our stories. If our paper looks bad or there are grammatical or spelling errors, it comes down on me.
Since I've come on board, I've launched a multitude of new monthly columns, devoted time to finding only the best writers for our publications, and I take what the publication looks like each month to heart. I fell in love with my career again when I started working for My Life Publications.
There are hard times and stressful times, of course. There are times where the stories I wanted to get, we didn't get the opportunity. We've had times where we've been extremely slow in terms of stories and times where certain towns have more stories than I can count. It's a blessing and a curse at times.
Learning what it takes to be an editor has been an experience that I wouldn't trade for the world. It's been a wild ride and at times, it's the most stressful job I've ever had. Deadline week is extremely busy and crazy, but I thrive most when we're at our busiest points. My Life Publications has changed the trajectory of my life.
Signing off,
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