NQ written in red ink

This phase of NQ production finds us wandering from desk to desk, printout to printout, red pen in hand. The focus is on editing. Copyediting, which comes later, eliminates those typos and misused words that clutter the page and jar the eye. Editing tightens the prose, smooths out the textual wrinkles, and unifies the issue. It can't be too thorough. There's always something! Always.

(Image: antonyjohn.net.)

Forecasting an abundance of foil-wrapped eggs

We're coming up on Easter, which means a short break from the office, before we return all rested and ready to retackle the Summer Issue. Story suggestions for music and dance are harmonizing nicely, and we're also adding some literary notes to make for lovely reading. Safe holidays all, and we'll rendezvous in two weeks.

(Image: alaska-in-pictures.com.)

And on to the summer issue

Traditional music and dance offers a lot of fun possibilities for articles. Perhaps we'll run the goat, or work up a batch of ugly sticks. And we have to try and match this glorious cover:

(Image: Venus, by Barbara Pratt, 1999, private collection.)

Prize draw tomorrow

All things being equal and all going as planned, we'll be on the CBC Radio airwaves with Ted Blades tomorrow (On the Go), chatting about the new issue and drawing the name of the lucky winner of Jean Claude Roy's Grand Bruit. Russell Wangersky, who I'm proud to say is on the NQF Board, and who I'm happy to say has just added the Winterset to the growing list of awards he's won for his writing (fiction and non-fiction), will be our celebrity prize-drawer. So tune in!

P.S. Our spring issues are in the mail!