One Person. Many Roles. One Community.

by Angela Sanford

   Running a small business in rural Nova Scotia is both energizing and challenging. There is a certain freedom that comes with running a local publication, but there is also a tremendous amount of responsibility.

    I am an overachiever by nature, and I set high standards for my own work. I want the High Tides Bulletin to be something our community can count on. What people see as a weekly publication, however, is the result of one person wearing a lot of different hats.

   There is customer service — phone calls, emails, messages and conversations that don't always happen during traditional business hours. I am happy to be available to the community, but sometimes life gets in the way and the business has to take a back seat for a short period of time, building pressure on the remaining days of that week to complete all of the steps in delivering the bulletin.

   Then there is writing.

   I would love to have more regular writers contributing to the bulletin, but I get it - life is busy. Sometimes the 11th hour arrives and the my own story idea is still in limbo.

   Of the stories I write myself, my favourites are the ones about local people. I love learning someone's story and sharing it with the community, and I am always encouraging people to send me ideas for stories (Send them to me anytime!).

   But writing a local story isn't simply sitting down and putting words on a page. I become the interviewer, too — finding the right questions, having the conversation, gathering the details and then turning it all into a story.

   And there is an important distinction when it comes to the stories in the bulletin and news reporting: a finished news report is not generally sent to the subject for pre-approval. My responsibility is to gather the information, verify the details and report the story accurately and fairly. In some circumstances, such as family-submitted announcements or stories where factual details need confirmation, I do work directly with the people involved to make sure those details are correct before publication.

   Which brings me to the editor's hat.

   I fact-check. I review dates, names, details and information. I read and reread pages before they go to print. I take that responsibility seriously.

   But I am also human.

   When you have been looking at the same pages, photographs, advertisements and sentences repeatedly, it is possible for something to slip past you. It is never intentional, and it certainly isn't because I don't care. Quite the opposite — I care very much about producing a quality publication.

   The reality is that hiring another editor isn't currently practical if I want to keep the bulletin affordable and accessible to our community. Production weeks are tight, and information sometimes arrives at the very last minute. Sports results, advertisements, obituaries, community announcements and other submissions can land on my desk just before the publication deadline.

   I review everything, confirm details with the people involved when necessary, make the changes and send it to print.

   And occasionally, something still slips through.

   When that happens, I am happy to acknowledge it and take responsibility for it. Sometimes there simply isn't enough time left in the production process to catch everything. That doesn't make the mistake intentional, and it doesn't mean it was ignored. It means I am one person doing the work of many.

   Then there is production.

   Most weeks, printing alone takes three to four hours. After that comes another hour and a half or so of inserting pages, sorting the papers into their various distribution groups and getting everything ready for delivery.

   Saturday morning starts early. Delivery begins at 7:45 a.m., and the final bulletins are usually dropped off shortly before 11 a.m. By then, I'm ready for the rest of the day to be a little quieter.

   And that is just the printing and distribution.

   There are advertisements to create, business paperwork, emails and messages, social media, website and technology issues, design work, community conversations and all the little things that come with running a business.

   There is a lot that goes into a weekly bulletin.

   And while I genuinely enjoy every part of it, mistakes do happen.

   The important thing is that the High Tides Bulletin is different from a large newspaper. It isn’t trying to cover distant events or write about people we have never met; it isn’t a source of immediate news reporting. We are telling the stories of our neighbours, our families, our organizations, our businesses and our communities.

   That makes the work personal.

   It also means that when something goes wrong, I care about making it right.

   Because at the end of the day, the bulletin isn't simply a publication that happens to be produced in rural Nova Scotia. It is a publication built around this community — and by this community. And that is something I will always care about getting right.

   So, the next time you pick up the bulletin or scroll through it online, remember that those pages represent far more than what you see in print. Behind every page are hours of conversations, writing, editing, designing, printing, sorting, delivering, problem-solving and, occasionally, correcting a mistake. It is a lot for one person — but it is also a privilege. And every week, I turn the lights on, open the computer and start building the next edition.