08-14-2007, 09:29 PM
From Jim Sinclair:
Hey everyone, it seems that when I'm trying to coordinate something
without a committee, I am able to manage *one* project, but not more
than that. So for the first couple of years of ANI's existence, we had
a newsletter. One year there even managed to be four issues in a
twelve-month period. But then we started ANI-L, and the newsletter
became less frequent. And then we started having Autreat, and the
newsletter all but disappeared.
We now have a functioning Autreat Planning Committee, and so Autreat
happens a lot more smoothly than it did the first few years, and I end
up a lot less destroyed by the end of it. And there are even people
who now know how to run Autreat without me if necessary, so if I were
unable to continue, Autreat would still be able to go on. This is a
good thing!
I'd like to do the same thing with "Our Voices." I think it was, and
can be again, an important publication for the autistic community. I
think as editor I did, and can do again, a good job of selecting
content and putting things together with an issue. to turn out a
combination of articles that people like and learn from. I've also
been told that I'm very good at editing content, helping authors to
fine-tune their articles so that they more clearly convey what the
authors wanted to convey. (This is the greatest compliment I have
received as an editor, and I've received it from more than one
person.) So I would like to continue as editor in chief.
But I obviously cannot produce a quarterly newsletter alone. If I
could, there would be four issues of "Our Voices" coming out every
year. And there aren't. I need help. These are some of the things I
need:
.
.
.
Some columnists, to contribute things like book or media reviews,
columns about legislative updates or new organizations forming or
events announced by other organizations, etc. If you have an idea for
a column, and you can commit to producing it on a regular schedule,
please volunteer. I *want* this to return to being a quarterly
publication. That means that if you volunteer to have a column in
every issue, that means you only need to produce four columns a year.
And I think it would be fine to have alternating columnists. Suppose
four different people volunteer to take turns writing book review
columns--that means each reviewer only needs to write *one* column a
year. So please, if you can commit to writing something four times, or
two times, or even just one time a year, let me know what you'd like
to volunteer to do.
I would like to see the following things as regular features in every
issue, whether they're produced by the same columnist every time or by
a rotating staff of columnists: book review, other media review (maybe
even break it down further: television/movie review column, Internet
review column to review relevant web sites, blogs, mailing lists,
youtube videos, etc.); legislative news (in all countries where we
have someone to send us news from); event announcements (for
conferences and other events that are not run by ANI but are of likely
interest to ANI members; again, I'd like to have news about events in
other countries, not just the US); news about other autistic-run
organizations (like the one Sola is involved with in Israel) or
cross-disability organizations; and I'd like to have a Parents'
Auxiliary editor to make sure there's something of interest to NT
parents in each issue. I don't even know if there needs to be a
special designated "parents' column," or if parent-related articles
can just be incorporated into each issue in an "inclusive" manner. But
even if we don't set aside a special page and label it the "parents'
page," I do want to make sure there's at least one parent-oriented
article in each issue.
.
.
.
And finally, I need ARTICLES! Submissions of whatever anyone wants to
send, of any length from one paragraph to two pages, and I think maybe
we can have one "long" article (4-6 pages) per issue. Artwork is nice
too. Submitting an article or artwork does *not* mean you're
committing yourself to keep writing more articles for each new issue.
That would be volunteering as a columnist. Just submitting an article
is a one-time thing, and if you later produce something else that you
want to submit, that's fine, and if you don't, that's also fine.
I posted a while back that I would like to return to quarterly
publication, and I'd like to do that by producing a double-length
spring-summer issue ASAP, then regular-length fall and winter issues,
so we can get back to four regular-length issues per year starting
with spring 2008. Well? Nobody has sent me anything for the
spring-summer double issue! I think I need about 50 pages, beyond the
material I already have waiting, to justify calling it a double issue.
And it's August already. Think we can collect 50 pages worth of good
quality material in the next couple of weeks, so a spring-summer issue
can actually go out before the autumn?? If you have something to
submit, please send it to me! Clearly label it "OV SUBMISSION" in the
subject line, so I notice it in my inbox.
Hey everyone, it seems that when I'm trying to coordinate something
without a committee, I am able to manage *one* project, but not more
than that. So for the first couple of years of ANI's existence, we had
a newsletter. One year there even managed to be four issues in a
twelve-month period. But then we started ANI-L, and the newsletter
became less frequent. And then we started having Autreat, and the
newsletter all but disappeared.
We now have a functioning Autreat Planning Committee, and so Autreat
happens a lot more smoothly than it did the first few years, and I end
up a lot less destroyed by the end of it. And there are even people
who now know how to run Autreat without me if necessary, so if I were
unable to continue, Autreat would still be able to go on. This is a
good thing!
I'd like to do the same thing with "Our Voices." I think it was, and
can be again, an important publication for the autistic community. I
think as editor I did, and can do again, a good job of selecting
content and putting things together with an issue. to turn out a
combination of articles that people like and learn from. I've also
been told that I'm very good at editing content, helping authors to
fine-tune their articles so that they more clearly convey what the
authors wanted to convey. (This is the greatest compliment I have
received as an editor, and I've received it from more than one
person.) So I would like to continue as editor in chief.
But I obviously cannot produce a quarterly newsletter alone. If I
could, there would be four issues of "Our Voices" coming out every
year. And there aren't. I need help. These are some of the things I
need:
.
.
.
Some columnists, to contribute things like book or media reviews,
columns about legislative updates or new organizations forming or
events announced by other organizations, etc. If you have an idea for
a column, and you can commit to producing it on a regular schedule,
please volunteer. I *want* this to return to being a quarterly
publication. That means that if you volunteer to have a column in
every issue, that means you only need to produce four columns a year.
And I think it would be fine to have alternating columnists. Suppose
four different people volunteer to take turns writing book review
columns--that means each reviewer only needs to write *one* column a
year. So please, if you can commit to writing something four times, or
two times, or even just one time a year, let me know what you'd like
to volunteer to do.
I would like to see the following things as regular features in every
issue, whether they're produced by the same columnist every time or by
a rotating staff of columnists: book review, other media review (maybe
even break it down further: television/movie review column, Internet
review column to review relevant web sites, blogs, mailing lists,
youtube videos, etc.); legislative news (in all countries where we
have someone to send us news from); event announcements (for
conferences and other events that are not run by ANI but are of likely
interest to ANI members; again, I'd like to have news about events in
other countries, not just the US); news about other autistic-run
organizations (like the one Sola is involved with in Israel) or
cross-disability organizations; and I'd like to have a Parents'
Auxiliary editor to make sure there's something of interest to NT
parents in each issue. I don't even know if there needs to be a
special designated "parents' column," or if parent-related articles
can just be incorporated into each issue in an "inclusive" manner. But
even if we don't set aside a special page and label it the "parents'
page," I do want to make sure there's at least one parent-oriented
article in each issue.
.
.
.
And finally, I need ARTICLES! Submissions of whatever anyone wants to
send, of any length from one paragraph to two pages, and I think maybe
we can have one "long" article (4-6 pages) per issue. Artwork is nice
too. Submitting an article or artwork does *not* mean you're
committing yourself to keep writing more articles for each new issue.
That would be volunteering as a columnist. Just submitting an article
is a one-time thing, and if you later produce something else that you
want to submit, that's fine, and if you don't, that's also fine.
I posted a while back that I would like to return to quarterly
publication, and I'd like to do that by producing a double-length
spring-summer issue ASAP, then regular-length fall and winter issues,
so we can get back to four regular-length issues per year starting
with spring 2008. Well? Nobody has sent me anything for the
spring-summer double issue! I think I need about 50 pages, beyond the
material I already have waiting, to justify calling it a double issue.
And it's August already. Think we can collect 50 pages worth of good
quality material in the next couple of weeks, so a spring-summer issue
can actually go out before the autumn?? If you have something to
submit, please send it to me! Clearly label it "OV SUBMISSION" in the
subject line, so I notice it in my inbox.