Insert a pun or pithy title.

BOLD OPENING SENTENCE.

A PERSONAL ANECDOTE THAT INTRODUCES THE EDITION’S THEME OR A KEY FEATURE IN THE EDITION. TRY TO MAKE IT FUN, YET RELATABLE. THE AIM IS TO FORM A CONNECTION WITH THE READER HOLDING THIS FRESH NEW NEWSPAPER.

While the constraints and general approach to each edition of Gippslandia are similar, we try to cast the net wide to learn as much as we can about the issue’s theme, subjects and stories, then distill the content from there. But there are only so many words (about 20,000) and pictures (20, give or take) that can fit into these pages, much to our editorial dismay.

Although the process applied every three months is near identical, the entire Gippslandia team are slightly changed people in themselves going into and coming out of each edition.

“All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

—

Fisherman, daiquiri devotee and occasional writer Ernest Hemingway once said, "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Similarly, and not without a touch of the dramatic, some editors believe that in creating each publication a little part of you dies – that the act of creation takes from you, as though you have a finite number of story ideas and a limited number of issues that you can produce.

I disagree.

I feel that creating each edition of Gippslandia adds a further layer of richness (like a Baumkuchen cake) or strengthens (like laminated timber) our understanding of the region and our people.

Over time, this amounts to a series of subtle shifts or recalibrations of perspective. It’s as ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man”. As you see the same place with fresh eyes every time. If your perspective isn’t changing, it’s likely time to leave the publishing game.

So, while making a newspaper is some combination of connecting the dots or colouring by numbers, the colour of your pencils change slightly each time.

You must just trust the process.

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IMMENSE GRATITUDE TO THE GIPPSLANDIA CONTRIBUTORS (ALWAYS) FOR THEIR TALENTS AND HARD WORK IN BRINGING THE ISSUE TO FRUITION.

SIMILARLY, EXPRESS YOUR APPRECIATION OF GIPPSLANDIA’S BELOVED READERS. WITHOUT THESE TWO GROUPS AND OUR SUPPORTERS, THE NEWSPAPER CEASES TO EXIST.

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CLOSING SENTENCE THAT SUMMARISES THE EDITORIAL/EDITION AND, HOPEFULLY, GARNERS A WRY SMIRK OR CHUCKLE.

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Gippslandia - Issue No. 33

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