Surrey Life Editor's Blog

Flatlining...

In my last entry, I promised to find you a bit of exciting news so here it is - we have a new member of staff coming to join us at Surrey Life - hoorah!

Can't say too much as yet (as to be blunt he hasn't handed in his notice in is current job) but we're all very pleased. I'll tell you more in due course...

In other news, have just done the confounded flatplan for the 112th time only to discover that I've missed out 'Crafts at Work'... Great.

Believe it or not, we still do our flatplans (basically the plan of what goes where in the mag) using old fashioned pencil and paper - and if you miss something out it's a case of getting out your rubber and starting all over again.

I tell you something, if I don't get it right soon I'm going to be flatlining rather than flatplanning ... 

Need a higher IQ

Yesterday's meeting turned out to be a very productive one, if a little bewildering at times.

You'd think that working out the best way to do the contents page, and the corner slugs (the little titles at the top of the page), would be the easiest thing in the world, but take my word for it - it isn't.

For instance, is it better to have all the different sections in the mag labelled at the top of the page - for example, 'The Great Outdoors' - or would you prefer it if the little title at the top said what the feature actually is eg. 'Dog Walk'?

And if we do label each page by section eg 'Homes & Interiors', what do we do with random things that don't easily fit easily into any section eg. Max Clifford's column or the My Surrey Weekend series?

And that's not to mention the contents page itself. Is it better to have a section labelled 'Cover Stories' - or perhaps it's easier if we divide the cover stories into their usual sections and label them with a 'C'??

Suffice to say, by the end of the afternoon, we were all left scratching our heads, not least because every magazine seems to do it all differently, and in many cases, completely inconsistently.

Anyway, I think we were nearly there by the end of the day, so going to have a go with a dummy issue of the mag and see how it pans out...

Fortunately, looking at the new feature designs turned out to be an altogether more straightforward affair, and we all agreed that they look fabulous - phew! So, well done to our senior designer Donna for coming up with such cracking designs.

Anyway, sorry to ramble on about rather dry work stuff - promise to come up with something a bit more exciting for my next entry!    

Design meeting

Just a superquick entry today as I'm off to our regional head office in Worthing for a meeting.

Our senior designer, Donna James, has been busy coming up with some innovative new deigns for the mag, so we're going to sit down and go through those with the rest of the team to see what they think.

We're also planning on redesigning the contents panel, and also the 'corner slugs' - the bits at the top of the page that say 'gardening' or 'open house' etc - so it's all rather exciting!

Anyway, still got quite a bit of work to do before we depart at 2pm, so better get back to it...

A wee surprise

Whereas some editors love the social side of the job, I'm just not the kind of person who likes going to 'do's...

I invariably say something stupid, trip over or forget someone's name. I'm pretty rubbish at small talk, too, so I generally dread having to represent the magazine at events.

Give me the choice between editing a feature and going to a posh lunch, and I'd choose the former any day of the week.

On Friday evening, however, against all expectations, I had a thoroughly good time at, of all things, a Burns Night Ball.

The event was held at the beautiful Woodlands Park Hotel in Cobham in aid of our own nominated charity, the CHASE children's hospice in Guildford (so in truth I kind of felt obliged to go) .

However, much to my surprise, it turned out to be a brilliant evening. In short, scary small talk was kept to a minimum, and instead we all concentrated on enjoying the stirring sounds of the bagpipe player, drinking lots of drambuie and tucking into haggis (albeit the vegetarian version in my case).

My fellow table companions, who included Sue, the managing director of Woodlands Park, were all excellent company, and a good time was had bv all.

I think my own personal highlight, though, was hitting the dance floor with Surrey Life columnist Max Clifford and his partner Jo, and photographer Alec Kingham. I don't think the historic Woodlands Park had ever quite seen the likes of it before...  

Anyway, thank you so much to organiser Wendy White (who, incidentally, should surely be in line for an OBE after raising £40,000 for CHASE in the last year alone) for inviting us along - it really was a cracking night out.        

Meet the team

Having gone into some detail yesterday about Helen's role at Surrey Life, it struck me that perhaps I ought to tell you a little bit about the other members of my immediate team, so here goes...

- Matthew Williams: Key member of the editorial team and my righthand man. Writes lots of excellent features and also acts as a human shield to protect me from crazy, stalker type PR people. Also likes football and playing guitar.

- Donna James: The creative genius of the team who makes our features look beautiful. Artistic type who lives in Brighton. Rarely seen without her West Highland Terrier, Connor. Very stylish with dry sense of humour...   

- Rhiannon Wragg: Erstwhile advertising manager now promoted to the dizzy hights of group advertising manager. Generally considered to be following in the footsteps of Sir Alan Sugar. Very much missed by everyone here, though we're all very proud of her...

- Damien St George: Sales legend extraordinaire, newly promoted to deputy ad manager. Very good at impressions and also making coffee - no-one else's comes close. Makes us laugh - a lot....

- Sarah Dowd: Generally fabulous... Our top account manager and an excellent problem solver. Gives very good advice. Also an extremely talented singer.   

- Ade Holder: Erstwhile rock star (yes, really - just Google 'Phinius Gage' and check out his band). Recently decided to swap fame and fortune for the sales team at Surrey Life (yes, it's that good here...). Very clever - also a trained zoologist and scientist - and a good listener.  

- Helen Hughes: (see yesterday's entry) - without her the magazine would fall apart. Likes photography, animals, cars and dance music. Also has very infectious laugh...   

So there you are... Hopefully, that gives you at least a little bit of insight into the people who work so hard every month (well, most of the time) to bring you your Surrey Life.  

Coffee shocker!

Today has turned out to be something of a landmark in Surrey Life history. Production coordinator Helen Hughes has just made a cup of coffee for everyone - and without a word of complaint.

I cannot imagine what has prompted this most unexpected turn of events, as previous attempts to get Helen to make a drink have resulted in little more than a grunt...

Anyway, thank you very much Helen - it was a gorgeous cup of coffee and we can't wait for the next one.

Actually, the only previous entry Helen has made on this blog was when she had her tonsils out, so she's probably rather overdue a mention.

Indeed, whilst her coffee-making record may be woeful, she makes an absolutely vital contribution to the day to day running of Surrey Life. In a nutshell, her job is to coordinate all the artwork for the advertisements, which at times requires the negotiation skills of a UN ambassador.

It's all very well getting a client to book an advert in the magazine, but wrestling copy out of them can be something of a challenge to say the least. This is where Helen steps in, gently chivvying the client along (or in some cases their creative agency) until they get their artwork over.

Actually, we're quite unusual in the magazine world in that we also provide a free of charge design service for clients. This means that if they supply us with copy, a picture and a logo, we can make up the advert for them.

This does, however, make Helen's job even more complicated, in that she will often be chasing not just 'complete artwork' as it's called, but bits of text, various pictures and goodness what else, and then making sure our designers do a superb job of turning it all into a beautiful advert.

In short, she works miracles getting all the copy in on time and then making sure all the adverts look gorgeous (though I'm sure a short break to make a coffee every day would do wonders for her stress levels...).    

Bad vibrations...

I have to say, the novelty of having builders just outside my window has now thoroughly worn off.

All we can hear is the most enormous crashes, as another vast swathe of the building next door comes crashing down, occasionally causing our entire office to shake violently and huge clouds of dust to rise into the air.

Neither do I feel very comfortable having a gigantic JCB digger whizzing past my window every few minutes.

Needless to say, it's all very disruptive, and makes working in a noisy open-plan office even harder than it is normally.

So, apologies everyone if I bite your heads off today, but I have a lot of work to do and could really do with a bit of peace and quiet so I can just get on with it .

I'm not normally this bad-tempered, but this issue of the mag is not going to plan at all, and nothing puts me in a worse mood than that.

Since yesterday afternoon, I have received three features that have been well below standard, which means they will all have to go back to the journalists for a re-write with a detailed explanation from me outlining why they're not good enough.

Not only does this waste huge amounts of my time, but it also puts us behind schedule, all of which is very frustrating.    

Diet Coke break...

Apologies for the lack of entries - was out of the office all day Friday at our company's national awards at the rather posh Landmark Hotel up in London.

To my great surprise, I was runner-up in the Newcomer of the Year category - leading me to deduce that they can't have had many newcomers this year.

Whilst I was delighted to get a namecheck for Surrey Life, I could well have done without them beaming a gigantic picture of my face onto a cinema sized projector screen... Hmmm...

Anyway, back to normal today, and am now in the thick of editing this month's art pages - while bricks literally fly past the window as they continue the demolition of the building next door (see entry before last).

The only bonus about the whole sad affair is that there's some rather strapping young builders working about 10ft from my desk - have an overwhelming urge to stand in front of the window with a Diet Coke and see what happens... 

All change

Today has been another day of mixed emotions...

It has just been announced that our advertising manager, Rhiannon Wragg, has been promoted to group advertising manager, which means she will be leaving Reigate for the giddy heights of our regional head office in Worthing.

Whilst we are all overjoyed that she has received such a well-deserved and important promotion, secretly we are gutted.

Not only is she a fantastic manager, and something of a sales legend in magazine circles, she is also one of the loveliest people you could hope to meet.

On a personal level, I feel like I'm losing my right arm. Unlike many editors, who have a rather strained relationship with their ad managers, the two of us have always got on like a house on fire, and over the past year, she has become a good friend.

Anyway, many congratulations Rhiannon - we will all miss you here at Reigate but wish you the very best in your new role.

Actually, it's all change here today as account manager Damien St George, one of our top sales people, has also been promoted to deputy advertisement manager and will now be heading up the ad team here.

Many congratulations to you too on your well-deserved promotion - but don't think that excuses you from coffee making duties...   

PS I have no idea why my writing has suddenly gone big and blue but can't seem to work out how to change it back...

Bringing the house down

It's a very sad day today at Surrey Life... The Victorian building next door to ours is being demolished and frankly I'm very upset about the whole thing.

Call me a sentimental old idiot, but I think it's really awful when old houses get knocked down - especially when it's to make way for a horrible block of ugly, modern flats as is the case here.

I've become particularly attached to the building next door - not that it's anything to write home about - but just the feel of it - the old weathered bricks, the tall chimneys, the slate tiles.. just the fact that it's been there for so long.

I'll miss the pigeons, too, who also seem to love the building and often sunbathe on its roof. Now I won't even have them to keep me company any more during the long hours of deadline week.... 

From what I can gather, the building has quite an interesting history too - among its previous custodians were Newspapers for the Blind - and it's also on a key junction, on the corner of Croydon Road and Doods Road.

So, you see, it is not only me who will feel the loss of this old building, but anyone who walks or drives this way on their way to work/school etc - put it this way, it will make a fairly dramatic change to what is a very well-known corner of Reigate.  

Right now, I am sorely tempted to go and chain myself to the drainpipe - possibly naked in a bid to get the TV cameras down - but suspect my efforts would be in vain and I'd probably just get arrested.

However, if you see me on the 10 o'clock news, you'll know why... 

Hitting the roof...

Our roof has been leaking today, which is giving us some cause for concern - not least because the drips are trickling through worryingly close to our spotlights.

The alternative, though, is that we work in the pitch dark, which isn't really an option.

As a result, we've just stuck a couple of plant pots around the office, to catch the drips, and are kind of hoping for the best.

Apparently, there have been leaks in the roof before, and it's all been okay, so fingers crossed we don't fuse out the whole building or we will not be popular with our neighbours, Everycare, downstairs.... 

In other news, just finalising all the features for next month, and it's already shaping up to be another good issue... I'll tell you more in due course!

And another one bites the dust

Phew - finally got the mag to the printers after a marathon 12 hour deadline day...

It's always a strange feeling when you've finally gone to press - a mixture of elation, excitement and blind panic as you pray that you have remembered to do everything.

I'm particularly thrilled with this issue - in fact, I think it's probably my favourite one to date - but there were moments when I thought we'd never get it to the printers...  

Thankfully, all the pages have now been safely dispatched, but the adrenaline has been pumping round my body for so many hours that I still feel really wired now - kind of like I've had about 20 cups of coffee.

It can be quite hard to unwind actually after deadline day, but a take-away and a glass or two of wine definitely helps, which is exactly what I'm off for now.

The usual mayhem

Just a quick update I'm afraid as we're right in the thick of deadline week and, as per usual, it's mayhem... Creative tensions over the cover (I prefer to call it that rather than fights), columnist Max Clifford politely refusing to file his copy until the 11th hour and untold problems with the flatplan (the thing we use to decide what goes where in the mag).

Still, no matter how stressful things get, there's always something rather exciting about this time of the month.

There's nothing quite like seeing the magazine finally come together or the adrenaline rush when you suddenly have to re-do a page right at the last minute because of a late, breaking story.

A case in point is this month's celebrity interview with Surrey cricketer Mark Ramprakash who has sadly just split with his wife. Cue frantic calls to his agent and even to Mark himself (well done, Matt, I know that can't have been easy) so that we could update the piece, and hey presto, we suddenly have a very newsworthy feature.

Anyway, better crack on - still a bit of proofing to do before I go and we'll have another early start tomorrow...     

Walking with llamas

Spent the last half hour editing a delightful feature on llama walking in the spectacular countryside of the Surrey Hills...

We really are so lucky in Surrey to have so many wonderful things to do, even when the weather is rubbish (the llamas don't let a bit of drizzle bother them).

In fact, the February issue is going to be packed full with brilliant ideas for things to do in what is surely one of the gloomiest months of the year.

For example, how about a visit to Gatton Park, Reigate, to see their spectacular snowdrops? Or, if animals are more your thing, what about going to the lovely Bocketts Farm, in Leatherhead, where you can meet a marvellous array of animals? Then, of course, there's our usual round-up of all the great plays, concerts and art exhibitions taking place across the county...

It's all there in the next issue for your personal delectation!

As ever, if there's anything you think we should be covering in the magazine, or any ideas you have for features, do get in touch and let us know, or just post a comment below. We'd be delighted to hear from you! 

Writer's block...

Just trying to write my editor's letter and, frankly, I'm drawing a bit of a blank...

Usually, I know exactly what I want to say and bash it out in about 10 minutes, but this month absolutely nothing is springing to mind.

Editor's letters are a funny old thing actually... Obviously, part of the reason they are there is to give readers a flavour of the magazine and to pick out some of the highlights, and that's absoutely fine - I could talk til the cows come home about all the great things in the mag.

However, there's a general assumption that you also put a bit of your own personality into your letter, too, or perhaps write about what you've been up to over the last month - and therein lies the problem.

Since returning after the Christmas break, I've done little else except try and catch up with the magazine because of the, er, Christmas break - which doesn't really make for very interesting reading.   

Hmm, back to the drawing board...  

TGI Friday

Can hardly believe it's Friday already, which means that next week is deadline week again - gulp!

Still, we've got some cracking features for the February mag, so I'm really excited about this issue.

One of my own personal favourites is an absolutely fascinating interview with the country's top expert on the Titanic, who'll be revealing why Surrey had a very special connection with the doomed ship.

Or, if like me, you've struggled to get back into the swing of work this week, how about abandoning the office in favour of turning your home into a B&B? In the next issue, we'll be telling you exactly how to go about doing it (interestingly, you don't need a cottage with roses round the door) and speaking to three couples in the county who have managed it very successfully.

Oh, and that's not to mention our celebrity interview... Anyone else out there with a bit of a soft spot for Mark Ramprakash? In a very revealing interview, the Strictly Come Dancing champion will be talking all about life at Surrey County Cricket Club, his favourite places in the county and his hopes for the future.

Anyway, that's it for now... Have set myself a goal of proofing five more articles before I go, then I'm out of here for a nice hearty dinner and a glass of wine... (New Year's resolutions?... paaaah...).

Let it snow...

What is it about Surrey and snow? While the rest of the country is bombarded with blizzards, we end up with a pathetic sprinkling that doesn't even show the remotest sign of settling...

I have to confess, I have a bit of  thing about extreme weather (I can't resist a bit of disruption to the normal routine) so I'm secretly praying that the snow is still on its way.

For the sake of our ad manager, Rhiannon, though, who lives in Sussex, I do hope they don't get any there. Incredibly, before heading up to the Surrey Life office every day, she gets up at the crack of dawn to see to her horses in the middle of the countryside. Not surprisingly, therefore, she is not the biggest fan in the world of snow...

Anyway, back on more mundane matters, all seems to be coming together slowly but surely for the next issue. Having returned after the Christmas break to relative chaos, the February edition is really starting to take shape now, and we have some very interesting features.

I'll tell you more about them in due course, but for now, better get back to some editing in case we all have to suddenly go home due to a severe weather warning... Hmm, as if...

Happy new year!

Today is our first day back in the office after the Christmas break, and whilst one half of me wishes we still had another week off, the other part of me is glad to be getting back to normal.

The thing is, when you work for a newspaper or a magazine, any time off wreaks havoc with the production schedule and just means you have to squash the same workload into less time.

Consequently, we’re really going to have our work cut out this week, catching up with the February edition, which is in a scary state of disarray at the moment.

Thankfully, though, once we’ve got this edition away to the printers (a week on Monday), we will then be back to normal with a whole month in which to produce the magazine again – phew!

Right, that’s it for now, as I’m going to attempt to tackle my inbox. I may be some time…