Are you ready to be an editor?

Luggage thrown in the trunk, I yelled up the stairs to my three sleeping boys "I love you guys." "Love you too Mom." Then it was time to be off. This week I decided to visit Ault Park, after all working on Wedding, I've read a lot about it. Remember, Google the address before you go. Those trusty navigators tell you to make a right hand turn, even though all of the Park signs clearly point for you to turn left.

Ault Park is 224 acres filled with trails, lovely gardens and pathways, spectacular overlooks and a Pavilion, that upon reading the history you find out that in 1905 the founder of the park said "Here is a million dollar view worthy of a structure of no lesser beauty than the Parthenon."  I'd have to say he is right. The large Pavilion is the host of many weddings and receptions, and from what I understand many company gatherings.One could easily imagine themselves looking down the stairs at a waiting public.

From the top of the Pavilion you can look down and see the cascading fountain, and formal gardens. The formal gardens have paths that you can walk along, and each one has a picturesque sitting area. In one garden,  I got to spy on a funny young man that whenever someone came near him he would burst into song. After admiring the kaleidescope of colors, it was time for me to search for lunch.
 
I admit to using my navigator for this, and that's how I came into Clifton. Ludlow is a busy street. It has a very small old town feel to it. There are local shops and boutiques. I chose lunch in a quaint coffee shop called "Stillwell's Coffee House." The coffee was wonderful, service excellent and my turkey on rye was delicious. The walls of the coffee house are filled with artwork done by local children. Particularly, there is a paper mache creation, with a map of Clifton. Often there is live music, and they offer WiFi.

Walking down Ludlow, it should be no surprise that I stumbled upon another bronze fountain. Right underneath it were two guys playing the drums. (Have I mentioned my love for street art and street music)

Alas, after that my adventure was over and I went back to my apartment to do school work and prepare for my work day. During my school assignments, I discovered two things. One of those things is that I finish my very last class in September, that's it, I'll have my degree. The other thing I discovered, is that I'm a little panicked about my graphic design class.

As I walked into the office the next morning, Kara brought me the art book. "Are you ready to be an editor?" "Absolutely!" I said as I started to pour through the book. (More about that in a minute) I took an opportunity that afternoon to ask Sue, (another editor) a lot of the questions I had asked Kara. The reason I asked the same questions, is because the answers are different for a monthly magazine, as compared to the special publications  (quarterly, special orders, etc) With the monthly there s more of a time crunch, and I wanted to know how the ideas are formed from month to month.

Wednesday started out a little rough. My mac and I aren't on friendly terms yet so I had to call our fix-it person. She's excellent by the way. Getting to work, I started on the list for the local wedding. I kept at that attempting to get them done, until it was time for the staff meeting.

This is the first staff meeting that all the interns have been at, so we all had to introduce ourselves. Listening in, I realized there is a lot of language I'm still learning. I'm also still learning about how the sales of magazines work. Afterwords, the other two interns invited me to lunch again.

This time we walked the three or four blocks to visit Cincinnati favorite, Skyline Chili. I'll admit it was good, it's also something I couldn't eat all the time. I've been keeping track of my calories, and I won't even tell you what it takes to work off a "small three-way," which is a dish with spaghetti, their secret recipe chili sauce and a mound of cheese. Over lunch we talked about going out on night. The girls want to take me out in Cincinnati to experience the night life. I'm a little worried about going out with two girls that are 21, but how else am I going to find my way? Besides, we're still bonding over our love of books, and the weddings we've been looking at every day.

When I got back to the office, Kara brought me the fully edited art book. So here's the thing, maybe I'm not ready to be an editor, yet. Editing is about more than just making sure the words are spelled correctly and all the commas are in place (serial commas, serial commas) There is a lot about consistency. If you place a word a certain way in one part of the book, it needs to be consistent throughout. Words like "multimedia" lose the hyphen. Of course, I asked a million questions about the next steps. "How long does it take from the printer to the public? How does it get decided how many are printed?" Yep, I've got a lot to learn.

Walking out that night, I was anxious to get home. I have some sketching to do for that graphic design class. This morning as the boys and I cleaned the house together, we talked about the fact that I do feel guilty that we're not getting a lot of family time this summer. They assured me that they understand why I'm doing what I'm doing.

I haven't decided on next weeks adventure yet. I may have to work a half day of overtime at the paying job Monday morning, so the adventure might get delayed a little. Then again, every week in Cincinnati is turning into an adventure.