As interim editor of a publication this fall, I've been raking in content from contributors I don't know and haven't worked with before. I am amazed, amazed I tell you, with how many of them have not submitted their articles to me until I have sent numerous emails, threatening voice mails, and sicced other authority figures on them. In two cases, the scofflaws needed to write 200 words--that's it--just 200 words each--and they didn't do it until I threatened to send the magazine to press without their words of wisdom. And before you ask, no, not one miscreant was a faculty member.
I may be a bit more on edge about this than normal, in part because I am working in unfamiliar surroundings with contributors I don't know, but also because I just read a fascinating article on procrastination by James Surowiecki at the New Yorker. Please read it now--don't put it off!
I love this from the story (so true): The problem, of course, is that when the time comes to watch the serious movie, another frothy one will often seem more appealing. This is why Netflix queues are filled with movies that never get watched: our responsible selves put “Hotel Rwanda” and “The Seventh Seal” in our queue, but when the time comes we end up in front of a rerun of “The Hangover.”
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