Running at Snail Pace

At home, I completed the third (and I believe final) round of proofing for Hood Monday morning. It was starting to get stressful because some of the formatting was off in the magazine, and it was hard to correct. I got it though! And, I felt really proud because I feel like I’m making a difference to this magazine business. The design director emailed everyone with the third round of proof and said she needed either the editor (Hannah) or the intern (little ole me) to help her with deciding what to put on a specific page in the magazine. I figured out the changes and emailed her back as soon as I could just to beat the editor to the punch. I made an important decision, and that makes me happy.

Check out the pinkish-red bubble. I feel important.

At the office Monday, Steff and I went through the final proof of the next Hood issue. I learned a lot, such as how to get huge files that are too big to send through email to the printers. I also learned a lot about media kits. I was given the task of writing copy for a two-page spread for Hood in Family Fest magazine. It didn’t take me long, and Steff was surprised and impressed. She then made a list and explained the tasks I would be assigned this week. Basically, I was going to be looking at and researching examples of categorized gift ideas for Hood’s “Christmas in July” spread. I would also have to write messages to past, present, and perspective clients about being a part of our future issue It sounded like I would be busy the next few days, but that’s okay, because I’m having fun.

It was a maze getting to work Tuesday since the day before we had a terrible thunderstorm that left everything flooded. A lot of roads were closed, so I had to find alternate routes. I eventually got to work, and I was right on time. So, always leaving early for work finally paid off!

This is Harrisburg where the elementary school is completely surrounded by water and has about an inch of water in 1/3 of the building.

At the office, I started working on Steff’s other magazine, MED. I went through the issue being worked on right now and checked all the ads to make sure they were in the right place and were the right size. After that, I went through the list of clients and added new ones along with checking to see if the current ones were correct. That took me around four or so hours to complete, and my day was then finished.

Thursday was the slowest day yet at work. I dealt with updating the mailing list for MED. After all of that, it would be okay with me if I never again had to look at an Excel spreadsheet. It got so old, and I was getting antsy and just wanted to leave. But, I am on the bottom of the food-chain in this business, so I tried not to let it get to me. Once that was finished, I started getting into the “Christmas in July” gift list for the next issue of Hood. That was pretty agonizing as well, and I still have more to do. So, Thursday was not the best, but it hasn’t scared me away.

The Holiday Gift Guide correlates to "Christmas in July."

The last day of my work week was mediocre. I worked with Jillian to edit the ad I wrote Monday. We also created a letter that will be sent to advertisers in Hood’s Family Fitness issue. I also helped tweak the “Welcome” letter they send to new clients. After that, I got to work on proofing the July/August issue of MED (Midwest Medical Edition). As I’ve stated before, proofing and editing is the best part of this job. I love every second of it, even if MED has only medical topics. Editing, no matter which subject matter, is awesome.