All work and no play makes JACK one hell of a zombie.
Luckily, my team and I finished Jack’s prospectus early Friday! (They were due 8am on Saturday.) That means I was able to have a longer bit of relaxation. Looking back, it isn’t hard to see that the magazine workshop was easier than the book workshop, though not by much. In both instances, I had to stay up late into the night, but the book workshop seemed to train my mind to think coherently during those wee hours. I started working on my prospectus material at around 9:30pm Thursday because I couldn’t begin until Eric (business manager), Greg (advertisement director), Emily (promotion director), Christina (production manager) and I got together and worked out the Profit & Loss business model. I wrote until around 5:30am, but that was the worst of it last week.
I think the Jack team did very well according to gossip I’ve heard. I’ve also heard that others had a rough time because of internal conflicts. Yet others simply didn’t work because they weren’t interested in the magazine aspect of the course, which I found disrespectful. But I judge the ethics, not the individuals – this course is incredibly difficult for people who aren’t used to such intense work with such uncertain goals. (It certainly was difficult for me!)
If I’ve learned anything, it’s that you don’t really know what you’re doing in these workshops unless you’ve actually worked for a magazine or publishing house; you just do what you feel is right and hope for the best. At the end of a day of asking a dozen questions and still knowing next to nothing, it comes down to your gut feeling and a firm decision. I re-quote Jonathan Burnham in saying you only need to be right 51% of the time to be successful. Luck seems to have been on my side for the most part.
-Ray
P.S. Man, keeping a blog through this course is hard!
