TRYING SOMETHING NEW

AMANDA FERGUSON in Belfast

Thursday, July 16, 2020

BOUNCY AMANDA Photo 02 07 2019 11 20 02

amanda.ie (how lucky was I to get this website name?) is a new platform for me to communicate with readers, listeners, viewers (aka you lovely humans).

The Covid-19 pandemic has been devastating to the media industry, through impact on sales, advertising, budgets and so on.

Freelance journalists, like me, are among the most vulnerable to major incidents like this. We have no safety net.

I have taken a major hit since April, and realised I needed to adapt to a "new normal", as they say.

I have been talking about a website for years and now it is finally here.

That is what the "test" posts on Twitter have been about (your funny replies did make me laugh).

Everything on the site has been tested but if you do happen to notice anything unusual please let me know.

While I will still be working for many of my pre-covid clients (thank you very much, lads), I will be putting separate, other work, here.

As you can see on the website I am linking to Pay Pal: https://www.paypal.me/AmandaFB... and Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/amandajournalist

I am leaving it that if you feel like helping keep my kind of journalism going, you can do this at any time.

I am excited about how this reader/listener/viewer supported model may work.

2020 has been a hell of a year so far for so many people. I am acutely aware how the pandemic has devastated families.

My thoughts are with all those grieving and battling illness, and with everyone in the difficult times that lie ahead.

Since lockdown back in March, I have kept busy but challenged work wise. It has also given me breathing space to stop and think, perhaps for the first time since I started out.

Having little or no control has been difficult. However, I have control over how I respond.

I have looked to the possible silver linings. No matter what goes on in life my glass has always been half full (insert your own French Martini joke here).

I think being forced to stop has made most of us reevaluate what is important and think about what we want from life.

Covid-19 has reminded me that health, family and community are the most important things. And I want to continue to do good work.

With a handful of notable exceptions my work in the media has always been through word of mouth, head hunting, and recommendation.

I kept meaning to get business cards printed and create my own website but never got around to it. Until now.

I am not bothering with business cards (they feel like items from another era) but with the skills of Belfast-born web wizardess Kitty Crawford amanda.ie is now live. Yay!

In the days and weeks to come I will post news, features, podcasts and so on. Look, listen and read all about it! It will be driven by what interests me, and what’s important to me and you.

I am buzzing to have this new platform for my work and another way for you to get in touch with me.

How this website and the work I do evolves is not yet clear, but sure not knowing is half the fun, isn't it?!

I have had so much support up to this point, which I truly appreciate.

Please continue to share my stuff online, and support me in whatever way you can.

Thanks



Amanda✌🏻

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