NQs gotta move

With the Spring issue due from the printers this Friday, we're gearing up for the mailout. We used to handle this all ourselves, arranging NQs in the bins, stacking them on a trolley (hugely noisy mode of transportation by the way, we might as well have strolled the corridors playing the accordion), and bringing them down to the mailroom. But the volume has outgrown the strength of our two-person office. A couple of issues ago, as we maneuvered the towering rickety bulk into the elevator, I thought, "You know, this is an accident waiting to happen. This is what people mean when they say: That's an accident waiting to happen." So, now the movers come and do this for us.
And, of course, we're making arrangement for our prize draw. More on that next week...

(image: worldgallery.co.uk.)

24 hours and five minutes to press time

It's coming down to the wire now, a last few hours to make sure our nouns match our verbs, our photos are properly captioned, our (freshly designed) Contents page reading as it should (this editor's private recurring nightmare). This time tomorrow we'll be about five minutes from filing to the printers...think I'll doublecheck that that hyphen on page 44 has been changed to a dash. And that we're consistent with our "per cents" (not "percents"). And that the white on the cover (you should see it! It's gorgeous.) has been tweaked just as the artist (you'll have to wait to learn who; it's a big surprise) wants it...

(Image: imagekind.com.)

Snakes & the banishing of

Tomorrow we start our proofing, a big day for us, but for most people this week's headliner event is St. Patrick's Day. I confess the day has never meant that much to me: nothing against the fascinating St. Patrick, of course, but it's the Sheila's Brush that tends to have more of an impact - as we can see right now, looking out our NQ office windows.

(Image: www.markdroberts.com.)

And the designing begins

Clean, fresh, and a little bit jazzy: that would be our visual goal.

(Image: Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie Woogie, oil on canvas, 1942-43.)