The best laid plans
August 11, 2009This week I learned about flexibility, and not the physical kind. I learned that plans change at the last second, and you just have to go along with the ride.
I was so proud of the staff this week because at our editor’s meeting we had a really productive time where we planned out exactly what was going to go into the paper, and it all worked perfectly. I should have known that couldn’t last.
This week, because new student conferences were over, we had very few advertisers, which meant that we had a very small paper, only four pages. So, a lot of our content had to be scrapped or redesigned to fit on this small paper. I had to make snap decisions about where to put what article, with what photo or graphic. There were a lot of times when the content wouldn’t fit into the paper at all, so we had to make articles web-only.
A lot of our staples, like comics and a feature photo and the where on campus, frequently couldn’t fit into the paper either, which disappointed quite a few of our readers. But, that’s what happens when you can’t get advertising. Advertising decides the size of the paper, which makes me a feel a little powerless, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And you can forget completely about having an associated press wire…local content only.
Flexibility means being able to roll with the punches, and take changes in stride, as part of a day’s work. I am much more comfortable with that now, and learned that the best laid plans can go astray.
