QUITE out of the blue the publisher contacts me and asks if I’d be interested in reporting for Myall Coast News Of The Area.

It’s been a number of years since I’d last been involved in print journalism so I was a bit hesitant at first but I thought it would be a great opportunity to inform the public on what is going on in our area.

I was contacted by the editor and would you believe it I was on a train at the time returning from Sydney where I was attending an award presentation for being published in an anthology.

In recent years besides a couple of short stories I’ve been involved mainly in academic writing and business papers which are totally different to weekly news stories but there was a challenge there.

Sometimes it is the backstory which is interesting and never sees the light of day.

Recently I had got up at the crack of dawn to finish off a couple of stories and while I was working away the power unit of my computer went snap, crackle and pop and I was left looking at a blank screen.

My response is of course unprintable!

With the deadline fast approaching and the editor wanting something for this week’s paper it was a matter of firing up another computer and getting it going and rapidly putting something together.

It turned out all good.

To pick out my favourite story in the past few weeks is like picking out your favoured child in your family.

I’ve been fortunate in that I’m involved with many community organisations so there have been many great yarns that I’ve looked at.

I want to say that all of them are my favourites as every story is worth telling.

I would encourage all of you who have something to tell to consider joining our team and sharing the items that are newsworthy in our area.

By John SAHYOUN