Apple II Bits

The latest issue of Juiced.GS shipped this weekend, and it’s already arriving in subscribers’ mailboxes on both coasts, as reported on Facebook and Google+. It’s gratifying to know all the last-minute work is now being enjoyed. I was at the printshop as soon as they opened on Saturday morning to collect the quarterly bounty. I then hauled the issues to a corner of the USPS, combined them with the stamped and labeled catalog envelopes I had with me, and handed the set to the clerk.

The postmaster was nearly crushed by the avalanche of Apple II magazines.

This issue marks my 23rd as publisher of Juiced.GS. In that time, the magazine has always been mailed in the month printed on the cover; not once has that deadline been missed. But sometimes it’s been close, and I wonder why I do it to myself — why couldn’t I have built more leeway into the schedule?

To be fair, sometimes it’s not me doing it — writers have been known to miss their deadlines, leaving the layout to the last minute! But planning starts at the top, and I hold myself responsible for delays or conflicts. For example, this fall was my first juggling both the annual MS Challenge Walk and teaching at Emerson College. With both events commencing within days of each other, there were two straight weeks when almost all the content for this issue of Juiced.GS had been submitted to me and I did nothing with it. Surely I could’ve seen that coming — both were scheduled at least six months out.

But I wonder if things would turn out better, or even any different, if Juiced.GS were prepared further in advance. Sometimes the best work is done under pressure, and it isn’t until all the pieces come together that the issue can be evaluated as a whole. That’s when the entire Juiced.GS staff pores over the pages, knowing that if we don’t all pitch in now, the readers won’t get the quality publication that we all put our names on.

Whatever our standards, even if Juiced.GS is the best Apple II publication currently in print, I’m always looking for ways to make it and its workflows serve its constituents better. Each issue is a new opportunity, and I’m already looking forward to December — and beyond!