The plan was to simply plop a piece I’d already written for the Huffington Post here in the Editor’s Notes so I could move on to the December issue of the magazine but something has been bothering the hell out of me.
Last month (due to tardiness, this month) I put out the double issue. This is all well and fine, I needed some extra time to remind my kids they have a dad and from what I understand, rest never hurt anyone. So, the double issue was justified. What wasn’t justified and can never have justification is all the damn mistakes that slipped through and continue to fall through the cracks.
I’m not talking about my run on sentences, that’s my style, I won’t change that. What I’m talking about are knucklehead mistakes that still happen, even after spending the better part of six weeks staring at them.
Everyone has something in their job that drives them mad. I have two. The first is the mistakes. I spend all my time in front of this laptop. I write. I answer emails. I create partnerships. I make friends. I do layout. That’s pretty much my life these days. I have very little time to leave this desk and because of that, my DVD collection is starting to look like the beginning of a Hoarders episode. With all this time spent on my product you’d assume that I’m on top of everything. I’d like to think I am, but I am fully aware of my shortcomings.
No matter how much time I spend with this magazine, I still make mistakes. Some are minor; typos. Some are major; a column header that shows my occasional dyslexia. The first I can deal with. Most magazines have a staff with dozens of people whose job it is to correct any error they see. I have…me.
This is definitely not an excuse. I chose this gig. The responsibility of delivering a quality product on time and with no mistakes falls on my shoulders. I take it very seriously. It’s one of the few things in life I do take seriously. With that in mind, you can imagine how infuriating it is when a mistake gets through.
The second problem I have is explaining who the magazine is catering to. Some think it’s a foster care alumni magazine because I was in care and the magazine covers the topic of life after care. Some think it’s a magazine for social workers because of the topics covered and articles penned by social workers. Some think it’s for foster parents because that point of view is presented and articles speaking to that world fill the magazine. Some think it’s for current kids in care because of the relatable content and inspiring stories of people from care. Some think it’s for judges or lawyers, CASAs or mentors, teachers or juvenile law staff. Truth is; it’s for all of you.
I have gone out of my way to make sure that there is something in every issue of Foster Focus that can benefit ANYONE with ANY stake in foster care.
The magazine works a lot like my brain; it’s all over the place, but with a purpose. Initially, I just wanted to be sure the content would never get stale. There is a touch of monotony that goes along with a monthly magazine, it’s to be expected. You cover one area of the world for long enough and you are bound to get tired of it. I set out in the beginning just wanting to have enough of a variety to keep me interested. This led to a bit of confusion as to what the focus of Foster Focus was. With foster care having so
many different areas to cover, I guess the answer is; all of it, I’m trying to cover all of it. A nearly impossible task, I know, but I don’t plan on going anywhere for quite a while, so why not give it a shot?
I’m not daft, I know there’s no way to truly cover all that needs covered until I have a staff of writers who I can assign various areas of articles to, for now I depend on the contributions given by experts and advocates across the nation. They haven’t let me down yet and it adds to the variety of subjects that are covered within the pages of this glossy dream come true of mine.
I hope that clears any confusion as to who the audience. I’ll do my best to get better at giving you an error free product. Enjoy the issue, it’s awesome.
Owner/Editor - Chris Chmielewski