From The Editor's Desk

Time traveling  and the art of  planning ahead

Dear Readers:

Temps roared into the 80s and 90s this week, but I’ve got my home’s winter heating system on my mind.

That may sound like I’m jumping the gun, but if I want to actually have heat this winter, now is the time to plan for getting my home serviced. 

Times are changing up North, and anybody who has attempted to get work done on the fly likely has found themselves at the bottom of a long list and dealing with lengthy wait times. This goes for just about any type of service these days. A little bit of preplanning can save you headaches later on. 

I think there is an old Aesop fable on this topic that involves an ant and a grasshopper. A piece of advice: don’t be the grasshopper.

Working in a business with weekly deadlines, I see it a lot at the News-Review. The pre-planning weeks in advance is what keeps us at the newspaper churning out a good and timely paper each week. 

When major holidays come up, they often feel like they’re in the past long before they actually arrive due to the fact that I’ve already been writing about it for a month. Cranberry Fest? That seems far away, but my talks with the Eagle River Chamber started this week to get their Cranberry Crier publication underway. 

In the summer months especially, I live in a constant state of not knowing what date it actually is, because I’m working weeks into the future. Being a time traveler is a juggling act. And that’s something that people may not understand when submitting announcements or story ideas is the planning required.

Obviously I know timely, last-minute news comes up often and I am prepared for that. But when people ask me what the deadline is for submissions, I always tell them “sooner is a lot better than later.” 

(For those who may be wondering, we generally need the bulk of submissions for the Wednesday paper no later than the morning of the Friday prior.)

So if you’re thinking that September is a good time to start calling around to get house projects done “ahead of winter,” I’d reconsider that timeline. 

The fact is, schedules fill up. The same goes for the news. 

We couldn’t do what we do here without the help of community members sending us information. But please know that if it’s very important your announcement be considered for publication, don’t wait until the final moments to submit it, or you might be disappointed with the results. 

Practicing some good old-fashioned planning ahead can work in your favor.