A sub-editor’s guide to surviving deadline (with the help of a Post-it® sunflower)

Deadline time.

The requests for changes are coming in thick and fast: replace the heading on the cover story; check subhead placement on the health story; add a credit for the photographer to the travel story … and on and on it goes.

How to remember it all? Enter Post-it Notes®. The little Post-it® Note Filing Tabs are perfect for marking pages we need to refer to in past issues and we permanently have style notes and quick key reminders plastered at the bottom of our screens.

But most importantly, as a sub-editor, concentration is key, so rather than interrupt our workflow by immediately making every new change as it comes up, out come our little coloured lifesavers. As deadline looms, each task for the issue that’s going to print gets scribbled on a Post-it® Super Sticky Note and stuck around the edge of our computer screens until they resemble something like a Post-it® sunflower.

As the task is completed, off comes the note. It’s very satisfying to take off each “petal”, as with each one removed we are closer to the finish line.

After a little breather, we await the printers to deliver all our hard work back to us. We then move onto creating the monthly MINDFOOD iPad app. The app features articles from the magazine with some smart features such as video and audio integrated. It’s always helpful to sit down and run through the magazine, making notes on each article and how it will be transformed from print to digital format. Post-it® Notes Lined Pads help us make quick and easy notes for us create our award winning app.

Where does the content come from before the sub editors go to work?

Read MiNDFOOD’s Associate Editor Carolyn’s blog on creating content for her Style pages.