First of all, click this link and sign up (it's free!) to get my Holiday Issue of Ally's Boho Living. Once you've done that, come on back and read this post! I'll be here ZZzzzzzz...xoxo ~ally
I've done a lot of things in my life, but having the title of Co-Editor and Photographer is a new one I can add to my bio! Yes, I've been an Associate Producer of a major full-length movie, an educational therapist, teacher, food blogger, food stylist, school psychologist, waitress, author, line cook, sales gal, and had a few more 'titles' over the years. But, none have been as daunting and involved as much detail as being a co-editor of a beautiful content rich digital magazine!
What goes on behind the scenes? A lot of things. First, there has to be a master plan, the big picture of what this magazine will look like and what will you, the reader, want to see. My Editor, Danny, who's super gifted at this and who produces many digital magazines, outlined this strategy and plan. Sent it to me. I reviewed, liked what direction we were going, and we both started diving in.
One of the big things about this kind of project is staying on target with deadlines. And, I've always been really good at that. In fact, in my days as an educational therapist and tutor, one of the primary things I taught my clients (students from ages 6 to college) were organizational skills and time management. Time is the great equalizer in life. We all have the same amount of it and what we do with it makes all the difference. Once my kiddos could master that, or even get the hang of it, know it's importance, then they were already destined to accomplish and achieve. Goals, short and long-term, checklists, self-discipline in meeting deadlines, yep, that's right up my alley.
A lot of the work that Danny and I did over nearly ten months was virtually. Back and forth with phone calls, text messages, emails. And, the most exhilarating part of this project was finally meeting each other, face to face, in the flesh, and for four days working non-stop with Audrey, his talented photographer, at my home in Colorado. Now being the hostess I am and having a darling husband, Ben, who supports me to the nth degree, I insisted that Danny and Audrey stay with us. Imagine how much more work we could get done, the food we could eat, the conversations we could have long into the night.
We hiked. We walked. We played and were silly. We waded in streams. Climbed on rocks. We explored. We shopped. We ate. We sipped wine. We cooked and cooked! I did yoga. We did multiple wardrobe and makeup changes, well as best we could in the heat of the summer. And, we stuck to a well-honed schedule outline made by Danny, a magazine Editor who knows what he's doing! Hundreds of photographs and video clips were made. We were like glued at the hips from early morning til bedtime. And, it didn't get annoying, boring or exasperating. In fact, both Ben and I hated to see Danny and Audrey leave. But, as we know, all good things must come to an end.
In fact, in Danny's 'Letter' that you'll find in the magazine on pages 12 and 13, Danny talks about the checklist he brought and all the items to accomplish but the one thing he didn't have on that list was that we would all become great friends and family. Yes, this is the big bones, the mega millions jackpot that we all received in creating this magazine.
