A Feeling of Impending Doom

Ugh. I can't believe I have to go back to school on Monday. Not that I haven't been doing school-ish stuff ALL SUMMER. Not that I haven't been to the school several times this week. But on Monday I have to go back.

I fought with the ladder (a graphic organizer that shows which order the topics will be presented in the yearbook) ALL DAY TODAY. Lemme tell you, it is not easy. The pages have to go in a very certain order: sports have to go chronologically, the people pages must be freshmen to seniors or vice versa, with staff at the opposite end from seniors so the senior ads can be placed next to the senior portraits. And everything has to be grouped into sections (although there is some overlap, thank goodness - I moved the Library spread from the "Academics" section into "Student Life").

There's more beyond the link, and I've tried to avoid being super-technical, but it helps if you know a little about publications.

Then there's the color issue. Our book is mostly black and white, with 16 pages of color. But you can't just have 16 pages of color wherever you want them. No? No! (Well, not if you're only paying for 16 pages of color!) Either you have 16 pages in a row - starting with a right-hand page, by the way, which is fantastically awkward - or you divide it up into 8 and 8. But if you do that, it's not in a row. You get facing pages, two at a time, alternating between color and black and white.

Also, I finagled a late(ish) deadline so that we will have SOMETHING to put on the spring sports pages before we have to send them to the plant. However, those pages have to be all in a row - which isn't a problem - and they must begin and end at very specific points (For those in the know, the deadline is for one signature ONLY). I have zero wiggle room with this, or else some of the pages will go in near-blank, or we'll wind up paying for it in BLOOD AND SWEAT! (Dramatic? ME? Noooo!)

It helped that the Drama course was cut from our curriculum this year - otherwise I would've had to combine the Band and Chorus pages into "Music," which might've ruffled some feathers. Because that one extra topic in there would've moved everything after it back one spot, which would've meant that the color senior pages would not be all in the same 16-page set no matter how I juggled. With the Drama spot out, I can juuuust make it fit.

I'm scared. This will be the first year I'm teaching what I really believe is important about journalism. Up until this point, I had a very few students who were honestly interested in the craft. Mostly they wanted to be given an excuse to wander the halls and talk to their friends. This year I've got students who are excited about the work they will be doing. (Wow!) I really want to train them well.

But we still have to publish.

(And that's just the yearbook - I've barely started planning for the newspaper!)