The Rookie Editor: Welcome

New Blog Alert: And since it just started yesterday, I mean a really new blog.

The Rookie Editor blog is written by a guy who is helping launch a new sports magazine, Motor City Sports. I'm not an avid sports fan, but I spent ten years in the newspaper business, and my husband and I have published our own advertiser (those free things, mostly ads, some quotes, that sit around in restaurants and on check-out counters), and we've printed several brochures and programs for various events. My husband still prints a few on the side. He is on deadline for one right now, as a matter of fact. The client brought him handfuls of printed pages, handwritten notes, business cards, etc., yesterday, and wanted the finished program - lay-out, printing, folding, stapling - by noon today. (Tell me again where we put that magic wand???)

In other words, I identify with the glitches - as well as the excitement - of putting a publication together. I also appreciate the teamwork needed. (And the joy of having a really good copy editor on that team, when you can get your hands on one. I sorely miss Roberta. She knew punctuation.)

I like blogging in part because it takes away the need to make everything fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, from scratch, in a limited and set amount of time. But sometimes I miss those very things about papers - the technical expertise, fortitude, and sometimes just plain ingenuity, needed to get the job done right and by deadline. It was very satisfying when it went well.

Best of luck to The Rookie Editor and his new publication.

hat tip: Exultate Justi