NQ to West Coast

First, apologies for a slightly static blog. Ran into some trouble getting at the posts - but I hope this is working, because we're gearing up for the West Coast Craft Fair, and you can find us in the city's new art space this Friday-Sunday, and, yes, we have our gorgeous subscription prize, Jean Claude Roy's Winterton

, on display. (Image: artbeads.com.)

And now we prep for the Fair ...

... curated and organized by the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, five days at the St. John's Arts and Culture Centre, starting Wednesday, maybe we'll see you there?

(Image: marthastewart.com.)

30 Hours @ Ottawa

We pretty much went from the airport to the set-up for the Alumni Dinner at the Chateau Laurier - which was packed, and well sprinkled with dignitaries - but had time the next morning to meet some of our MPs, bearing NQs and calendars. (And, because we had to sign in and be processed for each office visit, we got to hang out with the security guards a bit, too.)

(Image: Ottawa Collage, wikipedia.)

Bright lights along the Rideau

Plan is we'll be in Ottawa this Thursday night, set up at the Chateau Laurier for the MUN Alumni Affinity Dinner, maybe we'll see you there? We have magazines and other nifty giveaways, plus it seems a good time to introduce ourselves at the NL MPs, so Parliament Hill here we come.

(Image: vacationideas.me.)

Our deadline Monday

OK, their schedule was a little tighter than ours - we've got seven days until our material for the Winter issue is due - and our fashion sense hasn't kept up - those suits! her hat! - but the principle is the same. File, edit, print.

(Image: His Girl Friday, blogspot.com.)

Seeking a Fair Before December

Just after we posted last week, we learned the Craft Fair in Corner Brook has been canceled. We'll still try to get out there, and we'll be contacting all our subscribers and gift givers by phone and email - but the Fair is such a great way to meet everyone, we're still hoping some alternative can be arranged.

(Image: simonsaysstamp.com.)

A flying stop in Ottawa

On the eve of the Corner Brook Craft Fair (Nov. 2-4, Pepsi Centre) the NQ's scheduled for an appearance at the MUN Alumni dinner, Chateau Laurier. We'll have complimentary magazines and bookmarks, and a nifty poster. We're looking forward to a nice evening (and a mad rush to the airport - but hey, isn't everyone busy this time of year?).

(Image: planetware.com.)

To move towards the Fairs

And it is already time to start thinking towards the Christmas Craft Fairs - a month and a day from now we'll be setting up in Corner Brook, then two weeks later in St. John's. So anyone looking for a really great Christmas gift, you can find us, just next to the beautiful Jean Claude Roy painting Winterton.

(Image: botanical.com.)

Monday at the office, post-hobnob

The NQ got around TO a fair bit - a The Once concert here, a Jean Claude Roy opening there. We met lots of people and handed out batches of complimentary issues (and our new nifty bookmarks - get 'em while you can!). Next tour will be Ottawa in November, followed pretty much instantly by the Craft Fair in Corner Brook. We'll have more info on those events, as the dates come closer; meanwhile, it's back to the Winter issue drawing board.

(Image: graphicdesignjunction.com.)

NQ promos on the move

We're on the road this week, heading to Toronto, beautiful subscription prize painting in tow, all for display at some NL cultural events including The Once, this coming Thursday, 6pm at The Arcadian Loft, 401 Bay Street. If you're around you should try and catch it, they're really fine.

(Image: thecoolist.com.)

Hatches & the battening down of

A forecasted hurricane has added a few items to our to-do list (see above) but we're still full steam ahead on bringing together our Winter issue. Already have some great material filed, reviews commissioned, and interviews tentatively scheduled. Maybe even an idea for the cover. In the meantime, let's all keep safe over the next day or so.

(Image: trizworld.com.)

NQ on CBC Monday

Posting on the eve of this long weekend - everyone have some fun plans? - to let you know we'll be on CBC Radio's On the Go on Monday, chatting up the Fall issue with Ted Blades, host extraordinaire. Enjoy the holiday; we'll be back early September. And get ready for your NQs, because we'll be shipping and delivering them next week!

(Image: blogspot.com.)

Sneak preview of our insert:

(Photograph by Brian Ricks.)

Copy edits 105.2

Bit of a rush on the go, what with our special MUN Reunion insert adding a dozen (full-colour) pages to our editing and proofing (and the printing schedule was abruptly bumped up a week - but that's another story). We're through two rounds of it now, always finding something: an extra space, a misplaced comma, a repeated word. What's most difficult is becoming honestly puzzled at the sight of properly spelled words - after a certain number of reviews, "acquisition", for example, just looks plain odd. (Surely it's not spelled with a "c" ... is it?)

(Image: blogspot.com.)

NQ at the Reunion

We'll compile a special insert of imagery from the first-ever MUN Reunion, but our focal point will be 'the man of a thousand songs', Ron Hynes, Newfoundland artist and icon, who performed at the Variety Show, his last scheduled appearance before entering treatment for throat cancer. Trust us, it was amazing, we'll show you...

(Image: cbc.ca.)

Copy deadline 105. 2

How will things come together, and will the magazine emerge as some unexpected whole out of its distinct parts? Let the building begin...

(Image: decorhacks.com.)

As in a string around one's finger -

this was an old memory trick, meant literally to tie an idea to oneself - people use a variety of tactics to keep appointments and tasks in their mind. The NQ office, for example, is rather full of post-its with vital to-dos inscribed upon them. First item today: remind our writers that we are one week, yes, one week, from our next copy deadline.

(Image: wordpress.com.)

NQ half empty/full?

With two weeks to copy deadline, and maybe 40% of our content already filed, this is the moment in our production cycle when we, and by "we" I mean "I", start trying to gauge the level of content. Do we have enough? How much is enough? Do we have too much? Forgetting about an entire section of the magazine is one thing (it has happened), but ideally the issue is a beautiful balance of words and images, ideas and space.

(Image, from smart-kit.com; how many blue faces are needed to balance scale #3?)

A little Shakespeare for your park?

We're past the official midsummer's night (which is around the solstice), which shouldn't stop anyone from sitting in a sunny park and reading the play, should they wish - in fact what a lovely complement to a summer working day. We all have our to-do lists; we're working through our submissions here; but there's nothing wrong with a like-to-do list, considering the rare and lovely weather.

(Image: The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania, blogspot.)

Blue skies, and nothing but...

It can be hard to concentrate when it's all sun and breeze and let's-sit-in-the-shade-and-have-a-cool-one outside. But, rest assured, here at the NQ we have not lost our focus, and are working hard towards...was that a butterfly? is someone drinking sangria? what?...well, maybe we are having a few seasonal distractions. But honestly we're getting tons of stuff done, as you'll see in September.

(Image: blogto.com.)

1 month 1 day to copy deadline

Our fall issue is already coming together - here's a teaser on the theme...

(Image: flickr.com.)

NQ in style

We've been working on our first ever styleguide, an engrossing and exciting task. We'll be posting it on our website in the next while . It's a living document, it will evolve - but make a note to check out Bert Riggs's special section on Newfoundland-and-Labrador-specific terms (with its particular attention to dates and rankings for WWI). This blog will be quiet for the next few weeks, but we'll still be posting to Facebook, and if you check back here in early July we'll pick up our conversation! (Image: a few other styleguides of some reputation, winepressofwords.com.)

MagNet & Mary Pratt

And we're back from four days of seminars and sessions, meet and greets and exchanging business cards. Lots of energy and ideas out there in magazine-land, which is, of course, more and more synced to social media-land. Also had the lovely opportunity to see Mary Pratt's new Toronto show, and we'll have imagery and a review in the Fall Issue (publishing September 5). And note this exhibition comes in advance of her major retrospective at The Rooms next Spring. (Image: Poppyseed Cake, Glazed for Calypso, collectionscanada.gc.ca.)

Heads up Toronto

Tomorrow we hit town for the Magazines Canada Conference - a fine organization we belong to, as you can see. We'll also have a chance to hobnob with MUN Alumni at the Irish Embassy tomorrow evening, so if you're in the vicinity of Yonge & Wellington, stop by. (I'll be sending some photos to our Facebook page, snappy updates through the week.) (Image: chuckmantorontonostalgia.files.wordpress.)

48 hours to press time

(Image: warpedrealitymagazine.com.)

One thread of Newfoundland diaspora

We're proofing our first pdf of the Summer Issue today, a holiday for many - though not for MUN students (they were surprised, too). And we have a happy problem - too much material. While our designer genius (Granite Studios) works some magic with placement, here's the gist of one piece that may be living here (it's all about the multi-platform these days, isn't it?): The Lebanese emigrated to Newfoundland between 1890 and 1914. They became one of the two most visible

minority groups – the other being the Chinese. Lebanese was a bit of an umbrella terms, as it included Syrians, but these were mainly Maronite Christians from Mount Lebanon (Lebanon being founded in 1920). They were feeling the religious strife of the last days of the Ottoman Empire – so many left that the population of Mount Lebanon dropped by one quarter during this time. They came mainly from Hadeth El-Joubbeh, Baalbek, and Beirut. Many went to the eastern United States and Canada, as well as Brazil and Argentina. The chain of emigration that brought them to Newfoundland often started in New York and went through Montreal or Nova Scotia, then across the Strait. They often started work as pack-peddlers, then saved cash to start up more mainstream firms, across a spectrum of commerce – fishing supplies, hotels, dry goods and readymades, and, famously, the Majestic Theatre in Corner Brook, while Anthony Tooton acquired the rights for the Kodak franchise from George Eastman. Businesses were linked by family ties and families also intermarried, in fact it was not uncommon for two brothers to marry two sisters. They had political influence as well, for example Michael Basha became a senator, and Fonse Faour NL’s first federal NDP representative. The Lebanese faced some prejudice, for example being dubbed “tally-man”, a derogatory term implying a swarthy Mediterranean (Italian). But they assimilated quickly. They worshipped as Roman Catholics, and boys often boarded at St. Bon’s. The Arabic language was largely lost within three generations, the only words remaining are largely associated with food – kibbeh, kouskous – and some endearments, and the odd profanity. There are over fifty family names associated with the Lebanese, largely in St. John’s (with many settling on the North side of New Gower Street) and Bell Island, Windsor and Grand Falls, and the Bay of Islands from Curling to Norris Arm. In these places families named Basha, Noah, Moakler and Suffidy lived and worked. Some anglicized their names, as Suliman became Solo, El Teen Alteen, and Karbaj, Carbage. Others took their father’s name as surname – Noah, Michael, David, Joseph. Sometimes an official seemed to rename a whole family: Gaultois. Others were place names mistaken for family names – Duma (which is near Baalbek) – and further misspelled – Tuma. Much of the Lebanese culture faded, but the cuisine remains – eggplant, flatbread, yoghurt, black olive salad, lamb – and, especially, hummus and tahini on Good Friday. (Image: www.heritage.nf.ca.)

A timely book

OK, the illustration is a little off topic - we're 21 hours or so and counting from our deadline, so of course a clock image seemed required - but then I saw this cover, and, really, who can resist Nancy Drew? The fearless, roadster-driving detective, ably supported by loyal friends Bess and George, not to mention boyfriend Ned and father Carson, not so much in the picture but always there to lend a helping hand or parental advice, respectively. And this is a book and we're creating a "book", kind of a trade term for magazines.

(Image: wikimedia.)

Our theme is moving away from us

A week and a day until copy deadline, and the articles are ebbing and flowing through the editing process, as their circumstances demand. We'll meet on the field of disapora, a provocative and compelling notion, as this video conveys.

(Image: Pushthrough, courtesy www.heritage.nf.ca.)

Treating each new issue as a gift...

...and turning our eyes and hands to content & design - what will arrive in your mailbox mid-June?

(Image. zippykidcdn.com.)

NQ taking shape

Rivits of ideas, ribs of stories, not ready to sail but structure underway...

(Image: acardja.com.)

Yikes, those old sands of time...

It seems we just launched our Spring Issue - and what a nice reaction we're getting to our beautiful cover drawing by Phillipa Jones - but according to the calendar we're already under a month to the next copy deadline. So, without further ado, let the assembling begin.

(Image: blogspot.com.)

And we have a winner

We went on the air with Ted Blades on CBC's On The Go, and the beautiful and talented Lynda Boyd (you know her of course as Rose on the hit Republic of Doyle), and we talked about the magazine and the tv show and all kinds of interesting stuff - and then Ms. Boyd drew the winning entry. Joseph Gough of Ontario won - he bought the NQ as a Christmas gift for his wife so good karma all around.

(Image: our fall issue cover, showing Happy Valley, Labrador by Jean Claude Roy, and a very very special thank you to this artist who is so very generous to us.)

NQ as Easter treat

Spring 2012 arrives today, and we'll be turning our mailout around as fast as possible - maybe they'll even reach you in time for the Easter weekend. That would be some nice writing to consume, along with chocolate bunnies and foil-wrapped eggs.

(Image: listsoplenty.com.)

People, too, move in waves

Here's a hint of a possible upcoming theme - and a visual reference to Memorial's Reunion in August - the first ever. All different cohorts. For my part, well, remember the Science cafe? Zippered skinny jeans? Dead Reckoning playing the Green Room? If so, thou art a child of the '80s, and you may wish to reconnect with same.

(Image: sputnikmusic.com.)

Our green-tinged deadline

Some are getting a St. Patrick's Day holiday, others await Sheilagh's Brush. At the NQ office we're 24 and 1/2 hours from our file-to-printers deadline. With some hard work and a bit of luck, possibly Irish, we should just make it.

(Image - of shortbread 'shamrock' cookies, in case you were wondering - photobucket.com.)

Cover >>> press

The first thing we usually send to press is the cover; having that proofed and in production is an early goal of NQ design. We're trying something new this time - well, we try something new every time - but this imagery is animated and elegant and if you've been to The Rooms recently you've seen it and that's enough hints for now. Real thing coming your way April 2. in the meantime, here's an intriguing survey of some controversial magazine covers.

(Image: b-muse.com.covergirls.)

Let's edit!

Time to focus on editing, a process that includes writing the editorial. A unique skill - as you can see from the most famous editorial ever written - so we'll need to gather our thoughts and red pens together and hunker down.

(Image: shutterstock.com.)

Well, we sort of know where everything is...

On the cusp of our copy & ad deadlines, at this point the NQ storyboard is a neatly written series of titles and bylines, supplemented by notations in colour-coded highlighters and an ever-growing array of post-its marked in a bewildering shorthand that made sense at the time. Not exactly Office Organization 1001, but it seems to work, reflecting the living, growing thing that is the magazine.

(Image: wagonized.typepad.cpm.)

Production ahead

One week and one day to copy deadline...and we've already got some lovely stuff together. Pretty pictures, too, and one or two ideas for the cover...Note to self, remember the proper USB code this time, and avoid last minute panic!

(Image: lightmix.com.)

NQ pluses and minuses

This week the NQ has to focus on some numbers - budget numbers, printing numbers, logistical details that need to be squared away so we can block out story lists and copy deadlines for 2012. Our production infrastructure, if you will.

(Image: wikimedia.)

Spring storyboard checklist

Our "Fauna" issue is really taking to the air, with one very fine feature (about a certain famous introduced species) already proofed and filed, and a number of essays, articles and columns in the queue (including one about a strange beast of a movie shot here in the 70s).

(Image: thesharkguys.com.)

NQ in style

We at the NQ are all about style, obviously, look no further than our new logo, which is terrifically a la mode - as are all our writers and contributors; but sometimes, it is true, one needs a guide. Periods after "Dr" or "Ms" or not? Should we use "twelve" or "12"? What about such NQ-specific issues as when to use "Nfld" or "NL"? All valid questions, and all worth a thoughtful answer, which is coming in our new style guide, which is close, very close, to readiness.

(Image: crackofdawncreations.com.)

Winter Sparks

The NQ did some hobnobbing over the weekend; it was the third annual Sparks Festival, complete with poetry readings, author Q&As, booth displays and elegant receptions. Lots of chat, a glass or two of wine, and the NQs free chocolates also made a nice impression. Sparks is a nice event, and free yes free, worth watching out for, a bright literary light in late January.

(image: envato.com.)

Watch out for wildlife

Newfoundland and Labrador is a place of many (often wonderful) things, but biological abundance isn't one of them. Very few species are indigenous; adding those that have been introduced (or introduced themselves) still makes for a non-hefty catalogue. Still, we're developing a nice story list for the upcoming magazine, whose theme, as you have surely guessed, is fauna.

(Image: cbc.ca/larry colwell.)

Spring Issue storyboard

And here is an image that is all symbolic, not just of the issue's potential, but (hint) of its theme.

(Image: chestofbooks.com.)

Ready, set...

Welcome to 2012! Perhaps you've geared up for the New Year by declaring a resolution or two. Or maybe you're charting a Paris-style tack and preparing to mark St Sylvestre through to February. The NQ is looking towards Spring, the new issue but a glimmer of ideas, theme, art.

(Image: steamwhistle.ca.)