Maybe you’ve noticed, but I’m a big proponent of community-newspaper interaction.

I’m also can be more than a little loquacious when it comes to writing out my thoughts in the opinion pages, so I am just going to get straight to the point this time around — the Courier-Herald wants community columnists.

I started this community columnist initiative back in the summer of 2020 as a way to get a more diverse set of opinions into the newspaper. Back then, columnist Rich Elfers was the only regular writer, peppered with various thoughts from me and letters from readers.

Since then, we’ve had writers give advice on how to improve your personal financial situation; teach us about the history and geography of our most prominent and famous landmark, Mount Rainier; share personal stories, valuable life lessons, and religious philosophy about race, inclusion, and community change; and contribute political opinions across the spectrum on the myriad issues our country faces.

All in all, I think this has been a successful venture, and I’m hoping we can keep the ball rolling.

But that all depends on you; after all, I can’t fill the opinion page with local viewpoints and stories if I don’t have local writers.

Our four current columnists — Leann Blanco, Dan Shannon, David Cannon, and Carol Spell — will be writing their final columns next month. Thank you all very much for donating your time, knowledge and experience to your community through this newspaper; this year was, admittedly, spicier than the previous one, and even though I may have personally disagreed with some of the opinions we published these last 11 months, it made me happy to see the community react and respond. A community that can have conversations over ideas they disagree on is far healthier than the one that cannot, and it’s my goal to be able to provide the opportunity to do so through the Courier-Herald.

So if you’d like to continue these conversations and take the place of a community columnist, here’s everything you need to know.

■ Come up with a theme. What are you going to write about? And more importantly, can you write 12 columns, each being between 800 and 1,000 words, on that topic, and will you be able to submit those columns by deadline every month?

■ Put together an introduction column, which will be published first. Who are you? What’s your history on the Plateau? What does your topic mean to you, and what sort of expertise do you bring to the table? What is your goal for writing a column, and what do you want your readers to get out of it?

■ Complete a finished draft of a column. No matter what your topic is, make sure you list your sources by including them in the body of the piece (not at the bottom, like a bibliography) where relevant. Applicants who do not use or cite sources will not be considered.

■ List out the other 10 potential columns you want to write about. This will be easier to do for some topics than others, but what I want most is to see that you have thought this through for an entire year.

■ Email all the above to me (rstill@courierherald.com, subject line: “Columnist Application”) by June 30, 2023, and set up an appointment to meet in person. If you don’t receive a response, call me (360-802-8220) to ensure I received the email. Interviews will take place over July, with an announcement of our new columnists by the end of the month.

Now, I know more than most folks how daunting of a task writing can be — to some, it comes naturally. Others, like myself, have had to work hard to get good at it.

All of that is to say you don’t have to be a professional writer to apply to this position. I am more than happy to work with aspiring and novice writers to help them polish their ideas and find a way to express them in a clear, concise manner.

Additionally, you don’t need to be a political pundit. While the opinion page is traditionally a space to express opinions on local, state, and federal policies, life is far more than what happens in Congress and council chambers. Are you versed in poetry and want to show how people can extract personal meaning from their works? Excellent. Do you have a sweet tooth and want to review all the ice cream options at QFC? Done. Are you an experienced sommelier, cicerone, or bartender, and want to share your knowledge of all things alcoholic, from the history and geography of wine, explain the process of beer fermentation and the distilling of spirits, and dissect the various flavor profiles of popular cocktails? Oh, absolutely — but you’ve got to bring me samples of everything you write about. Because. You know. Quality assurance.

For those who do want to wade into politics, you’ve got a lot of free reign — but we’re looking to stay away from issues surrounding Presidents Biden and Trump. And, if you do tackle national issues and cultural phenomenons like gun control, abortion, social media usage, book bans, baby formula shortages, gas prices, religion, etc., we want you to somehow tie it to Washington or, better yet, King/Pierce County or even the Plateau.

This could mean researching state-wide data, finding quotes from local experts in fields related to your topic, or even getting opinions from local residents. If you need help getting any of those things, that’s what I am here for — you just have to give me a heads-up on what you want to write about and what information you’re looking for, and I’ll provide it to you.

Big federal news might be considered — but you’ll really have to give me a hot take that I can’t find elsewhere.

That’s it, in a nutshell. If you have any questions, feel free to come talk to me during our monthly Brewskis with a Newsie event, to be held this week on June 1 at Cole Street Brewery from 5 to 6 p.m., or give me a call or email at any time.

The Courier-Herald is your local newspaper, and this is your chance to take advantage of that and actively shape what this paper is for the Plateau community.

I look forward to your application.