Printer get ready

Sent a package to our printer in Canada, and here's what was in it... Above, a binder mock-up of our next issue with black-and-white printouts that friends helped to copy edit and proofread. The mag would be much lousier without them. Peeking from behind them is a stack of proofs printed on satin-finish photo paper. Pryor checks them for color and Eric and I try to catch last-minute mistakes on them. Going over these is probably my favorite part of production because everyone gets together for it (although Wendy does it at home these days).


Here's what the bookmap looks like. Although production is fairly hi-tech, this part remains the same--something everyone from zinesters to high-school newspaper staffs probably do. I wonder if the printers can even read my writing. I should have been a doctor.


If we're sending the proofs and binder to the 'Tobins at Transcontinental, that means the files are ready. This is what they look like on the online system. We upload, review, replace, and work them over for a day or two before we finally "select all" and then "approve."


The life of an editor isn't always intense, but the last weeks of production are. Although I always feel glad to get another issue off our desks, there's always an empty feeling afterward, too...