Additional Updates on the Website
Greetings Everyone! First, let me start by saying my website has officially had over 1,000 individual visitors and nearly twice as many views! Thank you all so much for making that happen, I could not have done it without you. I started this back on August 31st, and never expected to hit that number in such a short time.
I hope you all continue to find my articles and posts interesting and continue to come back for more! Thank you again!
I would like to take a moment to get you all up to date on some things I plan on doing with the website going forward and also explain the difference between “articles” and “posts”. Articles will be things that I research and write about, similar to my lighthouse series that I plan to pick up again, and other things like spotlighting local businesses or writing about local interest stories. Those types of things will be done using my background in journalism and be informational, factual and hopefully interesting in their nature.
Posts on the other hand will be me writing about my life, crazy stories about being a Mom, wife and entrepreneur as it pertains to this website. Basically any other informal topic that should arise which I think you will find interesting and hopefully relate to.
Changes to How I Post and the Frequency
Being a one woman show and trying to provide you all with good content is a very difficult thing. This website, (hopefully) will be so much more than just talking about my life in general. In order for me to continue with things like my lighthouse series, and other types of content that would fall under the Article category, I have to do the research, be on site as much as possible and generate my own images. All of that takes time and basically grown up field trips. I chose the word Musings in my website title because I didn’t want to limit myself to a single topic or genre. I wanted this to be a wide variety of posts, articles and experimental creative writing. A little bit of everything.
That is a daunting task. As I mentioned, especially when you are a one woman show. Moving forward, I will try to deliver content as consistently as possible, posting to the site no less than 3 times a week, if not more. Some of my articles will need research done and as I mentioned above, grown up field trips. Some of that can be done on the weekends with my family as I think both my husband and son would enjoy venturing out to new areas and visiting parks, historical places and of course new lighthouses that I haven’t covered before. However, sometimes it may require that I spend the day doing my research and tracking down people for first hand interviews and the like.
In my role as a Mother and Wife, it is so important to strike a balance between household duties, family time and of course my work, which is this website. So all I ask is that you, my dear readers, be patient with me as I get a firm handle on balancing all of this.
Now on to My Title Subject- What Journalism Means to Me
I began my education in journalism at my local community college and went on to complete my Bachelors at Stony Brook University. Life happened and that path was disrupted by both very good things and not so great events like Hurricane Sandy. In the end I found myself in a different career and basically hating it. But, I did what needed to be done. Now I find myself in a position to pursue my dream as a writer. When the world of journalism told me no, I decided to make my own path. Pave a road forward where there wasn’t one. I can be tenacious.
During my time at Suffolk Community College, I had an amazing professor who introduced me to the book >”The Elements of Journalism- What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect” by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. I own two copies now. Below I will list what they refer to in their excellent book as being the elements of journalism. To me, they are the Ten Commandments of journalism that should be followed to the letter. Throughout the book they go into great detail regarding each element and I highly recommend you go out and get a copy. The information they provide is priceless in my opinion.
I am listing them so you all have a firm understanding of how serious I am about journalistic integrity and will always attempt to apply these elements to my articles as I described above. I hope you all find this both informative and interesting.
The Elements of Journalism According to Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel
- Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.
- Its first loyalty is to citizens.
- Its essence is a discipline of verification.
- Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.
- It must serve as an independent monitor of power.
- It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.
- It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.
- It must keep the news comprehensive and in proportion.
- Its practitioners have an obligation to exercise their personal conscience.
- Citizens, too, have rights and responsiblities when it comes to the news.
What You Can Expect From Me
As you can see above, the list speaks for itself. I would still encourage you to go grab a copy, even digital if possible, and give it a read. In a world where the lines between commentary/opinion and actual fact are blurred, this book is absolutely worth the read.
As I mentioned, I plan on doing great things here. I am going to continue my lighthouse series, I plan on doing places of interest both historical as well as general tourist attractions. Those may, at times, overlap each other. Some other topics will include local interest stories, spotlights on local businesses, as well as human interest stories.
On the flip side of things, you may get a post about my crazy day, crazy dog, or just some nonsense I think you will relate to and get a laugh from. The bottom line is, in order to make this work and in order for me to deliver solid content to you, I will need to pound the pavement in a sense. So please hang in here with me, stay tuned by subscribing and most of all, please enjoy my content.
If you have any ideas that you think may work for my website and readership, please by all means send them to kl@amomwithmusings.com. I will consider all ideas and choose ones that I think are timely, relevant and interesting. You can also find me on Facebook, TicTok @amomwithmusings and Instagram. Please see the link below if you are interested in the book!
Thank you everyone for your continued support and please keep coming back!