 Welcome to Seize the Day and Ignite about writing a weekly news column. Seize the Day comes from the Latin phrase Carpe Diem. It means urging someone to make the most of the present time. Seize the Day is also the title of my weekly news column. I'm here in response to a suggestion that Ron gave me while I was at 4-H camp this summer. The camp atmosphere influenced and inspired me and I've infused some of that into today's presentation. Here comes our first sing-along. Please join in. Reese's Peanut Butter Cup! Reese's Peanut Butter Cup! We sing this song to pump us up! We sing this song to pump us up! Wham bam choo choo train! Wham bam choo choo train! Come on agents do your thing! Come on agents do your thing! Because of... It's from the left to the right, to the left, to the right, to the left, to the right. For your enthusiastic participation, you know what this song is really talking about is excuses. Those things that might hold us back from writing a weekly news column, and it might not be because our back's too sore or the sun's too bright. It might be because we feel like we don't have time or it's too big of a commitment or we don't know what we'd write about or we're not confident about our writing skills. Those were some of my excuses. Julie says that writing Prairie Fair is a big commitment for her, but over these last 20 years, she's gotten used to the deadlines and she approaches it as a weekly assignment. Now when excuses are one side of the coin, the flip side is the benefits. Weighing the excuses and challenges against the benefits, I concluded that writing a weekly news column did give me a good return on my investment. Chris advises the one column that hits the mark makes all the rest worth the effort. My weekly news column has been a great icebreaker and conversation starter. It's opened doors for me and helped me build relationships. It's also been a vehicle to extend my reach and point my readers to the resources of the NDSU Extension Service and the programs we offer. Julie sees it as an opportunity to reach lots of people on an ongoing basis with a variety of content. She learns new things by researching the topics for her column, and it's taught her discipline, kept her aware of current consumer trends and scientific research. So if you're considering writing a weekly news column you might ask yourself, what would it take to get the job done? Guess what? Hippo Song from 4-H Camp asks a similar question. Here we go again. Please join in. What can make a hippopotamus smile? What can make a hippopotamus smile? What can make him walk more than a mile? What can make him walk more than a mile? It's not a party with paper hats. It's not a party with paper hats. Or cake and candy that make him fat. Or cake and candy that make him fat. That's not what hippos do. That's not what hippos do. They ooze in the ooze without any shoes. They ooze in the ooze without any shoes. They wade underwater till their lips turn blue. They wade in the water till their lips turn blue. Now that's what hippos do. Now that's what hippos do. Thanks for your enthusiastic participation once again. So the question is how do we go about writing a weekly news column? The first task is that of choosing a topic or finding the material for the column. Brenda gave the suggestions you see here. And in the world of family and community wellness, my experience is that life itself provides the inspiration and the timely topics. We just need to pay attention to what's going on around us, in our families and our communities, what's trending on social media and in consumer groups. My sons moved to an apartment, inspired me to write a news column on renters insurance. And the inspiration for writing about non-fat dry milk came from a recent incident when I was trying to prepare a chicken and dressing slow cooker meal that called for milk and I had none. Another way to choose a topic is by looking at our publications. Any favorite or new publication can become a topic for a news column. Most columns I write direct the reader to the NDSU Extension website or to one of our online publications. To customize and personalize my column, I often start by telling a personal story. This helps the readers connect with me and it adds value to the column by tying the information to the real world. As Chris says, always bring yourself to what you write. He also advises, some columns are just fill, others are worth the read. But if you never write, you'll never know. I hope you will consider writing a news column. Thanks for your kind attention and enthusiastic participation today. And may the force be with you as you seize the day.