I say this a lot

I’m stressed!

I realize I say that a lot and that at some point, when you say something so much, it sort of loses its punch. Like the boy who cried wolf. Or the girl I used to know who sighed every day a million times a day and said “I’m exhausted.” (Then she’d take a nap, get up and go somewhere. . . .go figure.)

I may talk about being stressed a lot because generally I am stressed a lot. It’s something I’ve just learned to live with and actually one of the things I really like about journalism: the rush of the deadline and the idea of beating the clock.

But this week, I’m trying to get an issue edited before I leave on Wednesday afternoon for a focus group in Mississippi. I’m trying to get contracts out for an upcoming issue and answer all the questions those writers have. I’m trying to find replacement writers for the people I asked to write who couldn’t find it in themselves to respond. I’m trying to do preliminary work on the December, January, and February issues so that we can have a planning meeting early in July. I’m trying to pay the October 2010 writers, get an assignment to the intern, and deal with all the graphic designer’s questions.

It’s going to be an interesting few days. Bear with me if these posts are short and not very thoughtful. And when I start complaining about being stressed, you don’t have to listen. 😉