The Reason I Keep Doing This

By Blaine Howerton | NorthFortyNews.com

Some moments in this work stop me in my tracks.

Recently, I talked with a reader who told me she reads our e-edition every week and the Daily Update every morning. North Forty News has become part of her routine. She looks forward to seeing the new edition each week.

That humbled me.

It is easy, when you are working on deadlines, building pages and keeping a small business moving, to forget what happens after you hit “publish.”

For the past eight years, I have poured an enormous amount of myself into North Forty News. I work on the stories. I take photographs. I build the pages. I work on the website and the Daily Update. I sell advertising, solve problems, and run the business.

And then I do it again the next day.

I don’t say that to look for sympathy or recognition. I do it because I believe deeply in the journalistic responsibility to keep local news flowing in Northern Colorado.

This week’s edition is a good example.

Our cover story takes readers to Livermore, where a new fire station that was first envisioned more than 26 years ago is finally serving the Red Mountain community. Inside, you’ll also find stories from Fort Collins, Windsor, Greeley, and Estes Park, along with gardening, community events, and the everyday pieces of Northern Colorado life that deserve to be documented.

That’s what North Forty News is supposed to be.

Could it be better?

Absolutely.

There are stories I wish we had more time to pursue. Communities I want us to cover more deeply. More photographs I want us to take. More people I want us to reach.

And every person who supports North Forty News moves us a little closer.

A subscription, an advertisement, a shared story, or simply telling a neighbor about us gives this little independent newsroom a little more fuel—a little more capacity to make North Forty News bigger, better, and stronger.

That’s why hearing from that reader meant so much to me.

Somewhere, every morning, someone opens the Daily Update with their coffee. Every week, someone opens this e-edition because they want to know what is happening around them.

After eight years, that still matters to me.

Actually, it may matter more than ever.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for supporting local journalism. And thank you for giving me a reason to keep doing this work — one story, one edition, and one neighbor at a time.

— Blaine Howerton
Publisher & Executive Editor
North Forty News