Publisher column: Our mission, should we choose to accept it...

By Randy Capps

If you’re reading this, then everything I’m about to describe turned out OK. If you’re not, then I’m basically writing a diary entry.

As I write this, it’s June 5. It’s nine days until the magazine goes to press on June 14, which sounds like plenty of time. But hum the “Mission Impossible” theme in your head and hear me out.

Ten of the 12 Honors stories are written, and the last two interviews are scheduled for today. So, if everything goes perfectly, all of the editorial content for the July edition will be done by the afternoon of June 6, which is eight days until the deadline.

That’s about half the story. The rest of the magazine is advertising, and I’m told that about 25 percent of the ads are ready. This isn’t terrible, since holes can be left in the layout and filled in later on down the line.

But still, the window is a little tight. Toss in the fact that the Norwegian Escape leaves Miami on Sunday, June 10, with Shanna and me on board, and I’m a little nervous. Last month, it took our design folks eight days from the time when we finished the last editorial file to them sending the files to the printer.

So imagine Mike in the role of Tom Cruise, cutting the red wire on a bomb just before the timer hits zero, speeding the completed magazine on its way to printed glory.

Figuratively speaking, of course.