Getting AP out into the world

Press day, surprisingly perhaps, is generally not the editorial team’s busiest day – that honour falls on a Tuesday the day before. That’s when all the news should be written, all the copy has been edited (by me), second edited (by Nosheen), read (by Pam), proofed (by Vicki and Brian), laid out on the page (by Isla)… Phew. Then we all have a nice lie down, and actual press day is usually rather more sedate. Sure, there are last minute cuts/tweaks to make, occasional breaking news stories that have to be written and slotted in, and Paul always does his best to ruin my beautiful flat-plans by selling ads (chuh!). But, on the whole, press day is harder on Isla than anyone else – she has to juggle proofs covered in my indecipherable scrawl as well as getting proofs of ads back to advertisers for their sign off.

My press day mainly involves recovering from a mammoth writing day on Tuesday (news, newsreel and News from the Nationals) and then collating sets of proofing corrections so that Isla receives one set of proofs with everyone’s input on. We try and get all the copy (that’s features, comment, observations etc written by contributors) ready the week before, but missed deadlines, holiday, sick days, bank holidays and conferences all conspire against us to mean that this isn’t always the case.

But now it’s Thursday, which means it’s time to dive headfirst into copy for the next issue…