A Letter from the Editor

This issue of Madeworthy that is on newsstands now or may have been mailed to your home is our 30^th issue. Not too shabby for a project dreamed up by a couple of people with absolutely no background in publishing or journalism.

It’s appropriate that this issue is all about learning something new. Over the course of the last five years, Victoria and I have learned a lot about running a magazine. I’ve come to realize that there is no better way to learn something new than to follow what I call the Victoria Method. Here’s a breakdown of the Victoria Method:

That’s it. That’s the Victoria Method.

In April of 2017, Victoria and I were sitting at my dining room table for a TanglewoodMoms.com editorial meeting. She casually mentioned that she thought we should start a magazine. I casually told her that I thought she had completely and utterly lost her mind. No one was starting a magazine in 2017. Magazines were folding right and left. Print was dead, hadn’t she heard? I thought that was the end of that.

I have since learned to trust Victoria’s instincts. She knew that there was a wealth of great stories across Fort Worth that were just begging to be told. She knew that we had some great writers who worked with us on TanglewoodMoms.com who could tell those stories. And she knew that Fort Worth was ready for a magazine like Madeworthy.

That meeting at my dining room table took place in the third week of April 2017. On August 26 of that same year, a mere four months after that initial idea, we had our launch party at Artspace111, complete with stacks of Madeworthys. And we haven’t looked back.

We have made mistakes and missteps. We’re human, after all. But we learn from each mistake, and we (hopefully) do better afterward. We are fortunate that our designers and printers and writers and subjects have been patient as we learned to navigate the publishing world. But looking through our archive of past issues, I see that each issue is a little better than the previous issue. We are always learning.

Speaking of always learning, you may have noticed that this issue of Madeworthy is a little different that previous issues. We have been doing a deep dive into the economics and environmental impact of printing, and we decided to make some changes.

Due to the lingering supply chain issues sparked by the pandemic, prices on paper stock have risen dramatically. Who knew? Additionally, we learned that when printing in bulk, as we do with Madeworthy, every ounce counts. This issue is lighter than our previous issues. Why does that matter, I hear you ask. We print and mail thousands of copies of each issue of Madeworthy. When delivering this issue to your door, the postal vehicles will burn less fuel. Lower carbon emissions are good for our planet and for our future. Little bits add up over time.

This issue also contains articles from almost all our original contributors (plus the husband of one of our originals). These incredible writers have been with us from the beginning, and Madeworthy wouldn’t exist without them. Their words bring our stories to life, and for that, I am forever grateful.

So here’s to the next five years of Madeworthy! Our goal is to keep telling Fort Worth’s stories, big and small. Our aim is to learn from the previous five years to make each issue better than the one that came before it. And our hope is that you keep reading.

xoxo

Lee