What do you do when there's no news?

Well, actually, I have personal news: I'm engaged! I'm very happy!

Unfortunately, I cannot devote next week's paper to my engagement. I don't think that many people here will care enough to read about it. So, there are lots of empty pages to be filled.

And what do you do when there's nothing happening? I know of nothing going on in the community this weekend. There's one council meeting, which is a start, but does not a paper make. It's a slow time of year, and that combined with Easter coming up, means I'm grasping at straws.

I've trolled Communications Nova Scotia releases, the Herald, the Daily News, the CBC, and the Hawk to look for ideas. I read the other local papers, who appear to just be using my ideas from previous weeks.

Still no luck.

And apparently, it is highly unethical to make news, i.e. starting fires, protests, etc. I have lots of stuff that should be happening mid-April, when the paper will be packed full of stories. So, I'm looking at no more than 3 lean weeks. But how do I cope? I'm trying to line up features, I've done one with a kid who competes in the motorcross circuit and have an interview set up with a soldier who's returned from Afghanistan.

But, beyond that, I'm at a loss. I normally don't have trouble coming up with story ideas. I'm still new here, and I feel kind of out of the loop sometimes. I'm doing all the normal things to look for story ideas--talking to people and trolling all sorts of newspapers and news sites, but to no avail. I fear the paper might be shorter next week, which makes me kind of feel like I'm failing.

So, I will continue trolling and grasping for any possible leads, and wait anxiously for something (hopefully nothing major, but something!) to happen.