FROM THE LOFT by Happy New Year one and all. I hope 2011 brings lots of blessing to everyone. Here at WinnsboroToday.com, there will be major changes coming up. After being the Managing Editor for several years, and before that being the primary reporter and photographer, I have decided it is time to redirect my time and my writing. As most of you know, this is pretty much a one-person operation. I do all the reporting, Web maintenance and updating, selling advertising, and all the other jobs associated with running a magazine. What started out as a part-time job that involved maybe 10 hours a week has grown considerably, and there has been less and less time for me to focus on my other writing and promoting my books. My books are starting to do well, and I really want to devote more time to writing new ones, so I am resigning at the end of February. This was not an easy decision for me to make, and I have wrestled with it for several months. I have loved supporting Winnsboro and Winnsboro folks via this site, and the community support has been great. I started my career as a journalist in the Dallas area and really do enjoy covering stories and meeting people. Robert Watters owns WinnsboroToday.com, and we are discussing some ways of keeping part of it alive. I think it is a great resource for the community, and could make some money for the right person who can sell advertising and promote it. My meager efforts have grown the magazine from 100 visitors a week to over 3,500 a week and visitors are looking at over 1,700 pages a day. If someone is interested in buying the magazine and keeping it going, I'm sure Robert would be happy to make a good deal on the sale. Anita Williams, who runs the successful Winnsboro Portal with Barbara Hums, has mentioned the possibility of archiving some of WinnsboroToday.com on the Winnsboro Online Guide, as well as host periodic stories of interest from me. That is another option we will be considering as we make this huge change. I will be notifying my contributors and advertisers about the change, and hope that the notification will include information about the new owners and editors. -------------- If you have comments or want to submit story ideas for Winnsborotoday.com, don't hesitate to contact me. And if you want to take pictures of an event and do a little write up, I am open to submissions. It is hard for me to try to cover everything of interest in the area, so I welcome input from readers. And keep us in mind for advertising needs. We are the best deal around for reaching the most people. Until next time...... ************* If you are interested, I do write regularly on my blog so you can always hop over there to catch up with me if I haven't updated this column in a while. I try my best, but gosh there is so much to do. |