Argh, argh, argh. No matter how much I try, I just cannot do everything all at once! I'm getting so frustrated.
Yes, I should be working on those Eximia course materials like crazy by now, but it's not happening. I'm not saying I haven't done anything, because I really have. Today, for example, I met the two tutors, who will be helping the students with their studies. We sat down and had a very good meeting, which actually cleared many things for me.
But wouldn't life be easy, if that'd be all that I have to do? Yep, it'd be too easy and quite frankly, not my life, either. :)
Luckily I'm still quite optimistic about having everything under control. I have a week and a half to plan most of the lessons for the Eximia course. I have a week to study for my Finnish dialects exam. I have no hope of touching anything that has to do with my thesis, though, for at least another three or so weeks. Frustrating.
And as the icing on the cake, we have Spin. I'm not exactly sure when the first number of the year is going to be done. It all depends on the printing company at the moment, so there's really nothing I can do about that. I'm hoping we'll get it out by the end of the week.
Which then brings me to the issue of deadlines. A word that makes my bloodpressure rocket skyhigh at the moment. The deadline for the second Spin of the year is on Friday, you see. But as it happens, the zine has had a very poor record of being published when it's supposed to in the recent past. Which is one of the reasons why I was asked to become the editor in the first place. Sort of. And now it seems I'm fighting against windmills and old relics of habits.
How am I ever supposed to get the zine back on track if people think I'm not serious about the deadlines? I'd like to scream out of sheer angst over some things that have been said to me lately. It's like I'm being treated like everything I say is a joke. It's not like I emailed everyone on the voluntary staff about all the deadlines for this year in friggin' January just so that they could shrug it off because the deadlines haven't been followed in the past either! And just because Spin 1/05 hasn't been delivered to everyone's door yet, it doesn't mean that I'm not already working on the second number and that the deadline shouldn't be followed by everyone else, too. *angst attack and utter frustration*
I know I'm a rookie. I know I'm also a young(ish) woman trying to be an editor. I know I'm a person who doesn't like to get mad at anyone and most of all, I know I absolutely HATE it when I'm not taken seriously when I actually mean to be serious (yes, I can be serious sometimes!). And I'd really, really like to have people listen to me in the matters of this zine I'm supposed to be the editor of. But as the case is, I'm mightily pissed off (excuse my language here) and angry about the attitude of some people.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. *sigh*
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1 comment:
Your decisions about deadlines and such sound very good to me. Just stand by them and people will eventually understand that a deadline IS a dealine.
You might want to talk with the editor-in-chief of "Legolas" as she is one of the few (maybe the only) fanzine-editor in Finland who manages to get the magazine out in time every time. I've understood that a deadline in "Leglas" really IS the last date that material is taken for the issue at hand, if something comes after the deadline it goes to the next issue.
But of course you have to remember that people are only people. No one (well only very few) will remember the deadline if you don't keep pestering them about it. It's very good to have all the deadlines set already in January, but you still have to keep reminding people about them every few months.
People will learn but it will take some time.
Good luck with "SPIN", I'm absolutely positive you will do a good job as editor-in-chief and I'm really looking forward to seeing your first "SPIN".
Susanna sends her regards: she also feels that your thoughts about deadlines are very sound.
-Ben-
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