All the joys of the season

We're still going about our business-as-usual at NQ HQ, but we will be taking some Christmas time over the next week. So this is the last posting for the year; we'll see you in 2012! In the meantime, enjoy this Kate Rusby song, which is hitting a high note on this season's soundtrack.

(Image: www.paintinghere.com)

Distribution day

Today we'll be making our rounds of the retailers, dropping off caches of NQs hither and yon: Afterwords, Johnny Ruth, the Heritage Shops, The Rocket Bakery. We'll be in the mail to a few spots around the island and up to Labrador, too. Some people come right to the source - our office - and of course we're the ones to contact for your gifts. Three calls as soon as we unlocked the office doors this morning, which gives us that nice, warm, look-at-us-we're-helping-Santa kind of feeling.

(image: bigcartel.com.)

Countdown to Winter Issue

Just three more sleeps and they'll be delivered from the printers. Give us a turnaround day for labels and notes and gift cards, and they'll be on their way to you. Will you love the cover as much as we do? (Still trying to keep it a surprise, although hint hint it's a gorgeous piece by one of our best-known artists.) What about our anchor piece, an extensive interview with - with - but, no, we'll try to keep that under gold-foil-Christmas-paper wraps for now. But we hope you feel as excited holding the new NQ your hands as we did putting it together!

(Image: Count Dracula of Sesame Street, ucsc.edu.)

In the spirit of the Season

This time of year the NQ likes to step up for Santa; our cards and booths and banners are all about gift giving (and, of course, a chance to win the gorgeous Jean Claude Roy landscape painting). We've two Fairs down and one more to go and the pace has been pretty steady.

(Image: yowzers.com.)

Almost to the printers, and ready for the road

We're going to press with the Winter Issue, we're going to the Mail Room with supplies for the Corner Brook Craft Fair - our office is all about the logistics today. Where's the new usb code for the cover? What about ribbon for our Christmas bundles? And bows for our calendars? Last minute proofing wrapped in tasteful vintage paper.

(Image: colourlovers.com.)

Fair weather

There were a couple of topics of conversation around the NQ booth at the Craft Fair - one was how much people enjoyed the last Language issue (thanks!); the other was the run of calm, cool, sunny November days we were gifted with. Speaking of gifts, we still have the Corner Brook event and the Anna Templeton Tea & Fair on our agenda; perhaps we'll catch you there?

(Image: newbloodart.com.)

There's a certain art to managing this time of year*

Talk about your work/work balance. These couple of weeks, the production line for the Winter Issue converges with the set-up & operational schedule for the fairs, creating a veritable 'perfect storm' of details that must be finessed, fact-checked, finagled into shape and/or otherwise dealt with by NQ central.

(Image: typepad.com.)

*Beautiful art work on our upcoming cover, too - wait until you see!