Why I Started Smithville Texas News

By Kristen Meriwether, Publisher

One of the questions I’ve been asked regularly is why I started Smithville Texas News. There were rumors going around that Tom Etheredge or Mitch Jameson asked me to start it, but there is no truth to that.

While they have both been supporters of the publication, we had never even formally met before I attended a Dec. 2024 council meeting.

But in a weird way, this is still all Mitch’s fault.

In early November of last year I picked up a book called “Fame” by Justine Bateman. At the very end she talks about how everyone is born with a gift. And more often than not, that talent isn’t going to make you famous.

She gives the example of working with the elderly, saying that, even if you’re really good at it, it gives you pleasure and a sense of accomplishment, it’s unlikely to put you on the cover of Vogue.

So maybe you stop doing it and pursue something everyone else will deem “important.” But by shutting off that gift, it is lost to society.

“Society is not what was intended without you letting us see who you really are,” Bateman writes. “You have to take those skills and talents and you have to work them and you have to have the guts to let everyone see what you’re good at.”

When I read that sentence there was no question what my gift was: journalism. But it had been almost four years since I’d been a working journalist. And that 18-month period from 2020-2021 had been one of the most arduous times in my life. Despite my passion, the industry had chewed me up and spit me out, leading to homelessness for about four months.

Needless to say, I was a little skittish to get back into it.

So I prayed over it. “God, I’m going to go to the next city council meeting. And if I’m supposed to do something, show me a sign.”

So I went to the Dec. 2024 meeting. The agenda happened to be discussing the Riverbend development, which I knew nothing about at the time.

A woman who lived nearby spoke after the meeting about how she didn’t know about the development and how it would change the view from her kitchen window forever. Council Member Mitch Jameson made a comment about how he wished there was a better way to communicate with residents.

While he didn’t mention a newspaper, I remember those comments hitting me to my core. The sign was pretty clear. And for the first time in four years I felt a tug to serve again.

After coming home from that Dec. council meeting, I felt a call to act. But like most people with an idea for a small business (particularly journalists), I felt I lacked the funds to get it going.

Then my friend texted. Our favorite band was playing in Austin for two nights over New Years and we had purchased tickets months prior. But she had an emergency and could no longer fly in. I was upset at first but then saw an opportunity.

I could sell the tickets and it would be just enough to purchase a website domain and pay for a premium X account to publish articles and updates on. It was a minimally viable product, a way to see if this community even wanted a newspaper.

So I took the leap and officially opened on January 13, 2025.

I rambled through an unprepared introduction at the Jan. council meeting and, while working another full-time job, began stretching my reporting legs again.

Those first few stories and newsletters were ... pretty embarrassing. But the best way to make your writing better is to write, so I just kept publishing stories.

By April I was firing on all cylinders. I had published cute human-interest stories, covered the girls’ basketball playoff journey in an engaging video format, and was explaining things like utility and garbage rates, and comparing tax rates. For the first time in a while I felt useful and filled with purpose.

And then the stock market crashed and the company I was working for cut all their freelancers. The income that was supporting Smithville Texas News evaporated overnight.

I’m entering the fourth month of trying to navigate the severe financial challenges from that April layoff. Owning a small business is hell, and every day is a humbling reminder of the shortcomings I have in business, marketing, and accounting.

But in those darkest moments, when all hope seems lost, and I find myself questioning my life decisions, I think back to that December council meeting. I think back to that woman’s pleas and Council Member Jameson’s Christmas wish for better communication tools with residents.

And I keep going.

I hope you will join me.