BrambleStitches

It’s deadline again, and I’m swamped. I think everyone is, actually, because this is going to be a BIG issue–16 pages longer than usual. Of course that means 16 more pages for us to edit and finalize. I’m getting as much as I can done this weekend, because Erik will be in the field early next week, then his Dad and Step-mom will be coming to visit for a few days (they arrive the night before we get off deadline). Right now Erik is in the kitchen roasting a chicken and working on something else that smells delicious (I haven’t ventured out of my studio to find out yet). I know I’m going to really miss his help next week.

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Oh. So. Tired. I think I forgot to mention that it is deadline time for me again, but yeah, it’s here. It’s going pretty smoothly for me, and I think I’ve managed to pull off a few nice layouts for the issue. But man am I tired. “Working late” takes on a whole new meaning when you’re three timezones away from the other people on your team who are “working late.” Last night I worked closely with my dad to finalize an article on invasive species until around midnight. We usually work through instant messaging, since it’s so late here and the telephone might wake up the kids or husband (my office/crafty room is right next door to the kids). All in all, it’s pretty fun. The IMs are a lot like office banter, so it feels more like I’m actually over there hanging out working my tail off with everybody else.

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 You can always tell when it’s deadline here in my house. Suddenly there are dishes on the counter overnight, overflowing laundry piles, and general mayhem. Even though I just finished up magazine deadline a couple weeks ago, I’m working on another deadline already, this time for the chicken book I told you about a few weeks ago. I’m aiming to have it done by Thursday so I can send it back to the office for proof-reading. Normally I proof my own work, but when I get into heavy editing my brain switches over from “punctuation and spelling” to “structure and flow.” And besides, the gals in the office catch more errors than I do anyway.

But today my problem is not that I have only a few more days to turn a bazillion tid-bits of information into a swell book. Nope, today my problem is that I can’t think, because of all this mess. I’m one of those types who just can’t function in a messy environment, which is a little odd because I tend to be messy myself. I like to have a completely clean (or at least mostly tidy) house before I work on any project (even if it means doing the dishes before sitting down in the evening to knit on the Man’s socks). So I guess it’s no surprise that today, instead of getting right to work this morning, I’ll be cleaning the house, making up some good snacks for the kids (and me!), and tidying up my desk. In so doing, I’ll be loosing the cogs in my brain for a more efficient, more enjoyable (if that’s even possible) deadline.

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I’m doing magazine work today on my kitchen counter where I can keep an eye on and play with the kids. Today while I was building ads for the upcoming magazine, the Jan/Feb 2008 issue, I noticed a typographical error in the table of contents of The Best of the First Two Years, BHM’s first anthology. I checked with Lisa, and after 25,000 copies (and quite a few reprintings later) the typo is still there. Whoops.

Before I finish the ads I need to get page counts to Lisa, who coordinates all of the article purchases and contracts, and does so many other jobs around the office that she’s pretty much the backbone of the editorial side of putting out the magazine. Page counts are just an estimate of how many pages each article will take up in the magazine. They take into account photographs and any fancy typography we put on the article, and determine how much we’ll pay the writer.

In the back of my mind is another project I’m working on, a new Backwoods Home Magazine series of small info-packed books on various important homesteading topics. The first book published will be about chickens, but we’re expecting to have quite an expansive series out soon.

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Lest you think I’ve been slacking of for the last few days, let me tell you what I’ve been doing over at the magazine this week. 

Monday, our server administrators, Tom and Joe McDonald of Vpop Technologies, our webmaster, Oliver Del Signore, and I put on the steam to launch the first of several blogs on the BHM website. The project had been languishing for several weeks, until my dad (he’s my boss, too) emailed me and said, ‘Get it online STAT, I want to write my first post Friday.’ And by golly, we did.

While Joe and Tom wrote code to integrate the design of blog into the website, Oliver fine tuned the look, fixed all sorts of formatting stuff, and who knows what else (he’s amazing… I have no idea what he did, really…. a whole lot), and held my hand through a crash course on the server. In all, I did hardly any of the work, even though I worked all week. My main job was to get familiar with WordPress (we chose WordPress for several good reasons… 1) it’s free, 2) it’s open source, 3) it can do anything, if you can figure it out…which we will…. someday) so that I could become the blog administrator.

After a zillion test posts, a domain move (which, thanks to Oliver, I did all by myself!), a major conceptual change, and a few bugs, we launched Dave Duffy Blogging on Friday with my dad’s very first weblog post.

Congratulations, Dad, and welcome to the blogging world!

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…is mostly over. I finished editing the last article tonight, and now I’ll wait for the last minute things. I’m told the rest of the issue is coming together as well. I know all the articles I’ve worked on are really strong and
the pictures are great.

This deadline, especially yesterday and today, has been full of interruptions. (Daddy’s home–go bother him!) Miss O is at the age where everything she does must be "watched" by Mommy, her juice must be poured by Mommy, her dolly must be dressed by Mommy, and if Daddy dares to attempt an intervention, well look out. Little G is at the age where he must simply be watched all the time. He’s just learned how to crawl onto the couch, and now spends his afternoons hanging off the arms, testing his luck. He’s also trying to give up his afternoon nap, so his schedule is a little off, which throws every one else off, too.

As much as I love deadline, I’m really looking forward to unwinding in my studio with some crafty goodness. I’m nearly finished with the garter stitch scarf I started last week, and I’ve got a lot of sewing to do.

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This week I’ve been tied to my computer (thank goodness for laptops and a WIRELESS INTERNET ROUTER–thanks Dad–, or I’d be tied to my desk, too). It’s deadline again, which means no sewing, no sunshine, and a dwindling supply of clean laundry (I caught Erik using one of the baby towels this morning… whoops).

But that’s not to say that deadline is all work and no play–this issue I’m having lots of fun laying out our lead article about building a treehouse! It’s been a tricky article to pull together, but that’s no fault of the author–the problem is there are so many great pictures that it’s hard to pick just a few to use.

By this time next week, deadline will be over, and I’ll be back to my "other" real job, designing and making new things for my shop. The treehouse is going to stick with me though, and I think some new "play" designs will come of it.

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I was rudely jolted back to reality this morning when I discovered that deadline is a week from next Monday. Which means I have to stop sewing long enough to set a few articles. Which means.. I’m sad.

I’ve been working on Miss O’s chicken quilt, piecing a few 12″ quilt blocks for various swaps, and also sewing up some diapers with my FOE that just arrived yesterday. Miss O really needs a few more, and little G will need some, too. I have plenty of newborn size, but not many smalls.

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