A: About Me

Sara Dowling has covered education, government, business and community events news in rural Fallon and Churchill County, Nevada for the Lahontan Valley News since 2023.

Hello! I often feel like I want to share some behind the scenes glimpses of what it takes to write the news. This blog is also a way for me to prove that I am writing my own articles and I am not a robot! 

My blog is purposely called "Sara Dowling, Writer" and not "Sara Dowling, Journalist" because I enjoy different types of writing. Back in 2003, I had several blogs for my personal writing and a few different projects. Since I started writing news articles in 2023, the weekly deadlines have done so much to help me learn to push through my anxiety/ies. 

That's probably my top piece of advice to a new writer who feels stuck, blank or anxious; learn how to cover a city council meeting by a weekly deadline. Then cover a school board meeting or a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a business. Then do all three in the same week! You will have more than enough to say and no time to freak out about how to say it. 

But writing in AP Style is a certain kind of structured voice, and I miss writing in my own personal voice. I worked really hard to develop it over my lifetime! On my blogs I loved sharing new things I'd found, and the feeling when I just sat down to see what came out on the page. I don't have a ton of extra time these days, but I want to give myself a space to play again. 

I'm a member of the Churchill County High School Class of 1994 and I hold an associate degree in graphic communications from Western Nevada College. While I don’t have any formal Journalism education, I treat my current opportunity to learn from Lahontan Valley News Editor Emeritus Steve Ranson as a Master Class.

To compensate for hearing loss caused by a childhood injury, I utilize technology such as audio recordings, closed captioned videos, voice-to-text transcription and digitally enhanced hearing aids in my reporting.

I love God, my family and serving my hometown community through writing. I have always enjoyed learning, reading, writing, art and music. I walk several times a day with my Shih Tzu personal trainer, Princess.

My email is fallonnewspaper AT yahoo DOT com.