annual checkup

This morning I'm heading off to our annual editorial retreat – two days of meetings to blue sky it, to talk about what the magazine is and what it could be. If you don't already do something like this at your magazine, I highly recommend it. It's reinvigorating for everyone to take a step back and look at the big picture, which is something you can't really do when dealing with the day-to-day grind. Talk about what you've seen in other magazines that you like, what you think is and isn't working (editorial-wise, art-wise, workflow-wise), plus anything else you want to discuss. Let the ideas flow. And do it off site; you need to be away from the confines of the office, away from the lure of checking email, to really relax and get the juices flowing.