But even over summer, Friday is our Day of Many Meetings. We purposefully pack 'em in, but we keep them short.
So here's what I did last Friday.
NOON...
Met with the EIC and a reporter working on a long-range investigative piece for fall semester. It involves comparing FAU with two other schools in our area: Florida International University and the University of Miami. I visit both several times a year for SPJ, so I offered leads and background.
12:30...
Met with the EIC and another reporter working on a cover story about new campus construction. We reviewed 15 pages of dense public records. I helped parse the language so the EIC and reporter could decide on an angle and an approach to sources.
1:00...
Editors meeting. The managing editor prints out an editorial budget with slugs, summaries, and deadlines. The editors decide what will go in the next issue, the issue after that, and online. I interject but mostly just observe.
1:30...
Writers meeting. This week, a dozen staffers reviewed two leads and nut grafs for our annual football issue, which prints in late August. As usual, after everyone else opined, I deconstructed the tops and hosted a round of, "How could we make this even better?"
2:00...
Staff meeting. At the request of the editors, I led a training session on interviewing. I stage-directed a mock interview with the entertainment editor – who recently concluded a 10-day liquid diet consisting solely of water, maple syrup, lemon, and cayenne pepper. Staffers volunteered for two-minute turns asking her questions. The best interviewers got dollar coins (and so did the entertainment editor for sharing the inner workings of her digestive system).
2:45...
Chatted briefly with a writer who had an internship interview scheduled the following week at the South Florida Business Journal. We had met for lunch the day before to game-plan, since I know the editors and one of them had asked me to recommend someone. But we reviewed his strategy. (I learned later he kicked butt.)
2:50...
Consoled a copyeditor who had applied for, but did not get, an internship with a New Age book publisher in Minnesota. "Lots of other internships out there," I told her. "And you learned stuff just by applying." (I had given her tips on her resume and cover letter.) We're going to hunt down other opportunities.
3:00...
A new copyeditor and a writer tell me they liked the mock interview and ask for more of the same. The copyeditor pitches a cover story idea. I grab the ME, who's standing close by, and suggest they talk about it first.
3:10...
I ask the entertainment editor and a sports writer if they're interested in applying for an internship at Boca Raton magazine. (Since I compile a weekly regional joblist, I often get advanced notice of such postings.) While the entertainment editor can't apply because she's embarking on a long vacation, the sports writer is interested. I freelance for Boca Raton and will drop her name when I lunch with the editor next week.
3:30...
The EIC requests my presence in her office to speak with the new copydesk chief, who has a fresh crew of copyeditors and must decide which one will get the only paid CE position we have. We discuss how he'll go about that, and I offer my help in learning how to manage a staff – which will be his first time in charge of other people.
3:45...
4:00...
Remember the copyeditor who pitched a cover story idea to the ME? Those two and the EIC want to chat with me about the best methodology for tackling it.
Just another Friday afternoon at the University Press. Looking forward another one in a few hours.
MONDAY: Some funny and scary phone calls.
