We’re still here

Hello, Thoughtsmith Readers!

So you may be wondering where we’ve been and why we haven’t published our fall issue yet. (You liars! You said the reading period would be over months ago!) That’s true. We did. Sorry about that! Truth is, we’ve all been incredibly busy, but worry not; Thoughtsmith isn’t in any sort of trouble.  In fact, I’ve been working on a complete overhaul of the website that is on track for release around the beginning of 2012, if not a bit sooner.  We’re just about finished with tabulating votes on the submissions received for the fall issue, and we’re going to have it up as soon™ as possible.  That said, there are a few changes that we’re going to be enacting shortly, and I’ll take this time to go over them.

First, we’re going to be switching to a bit more of an abstract reading period schedule.  While our aim is still to release four issues a year, published roughly quarterly, we’re realizing that it is unrealistic, given time constraints and the amount of submissions we need to read through, to guarantee a date when we’re going to have each issue finished.

Second, we’re going to be incorporating an articles/blog section, which will be comprised of articles written by us and article submissions sent in by our readers.  We figure that a dynamic content section, in addition to the roughly-quarterly issue-based releases, will be more interesting to readers and will allow us to publish a greater range of things.

Finally, we’re looking for a fifth editor.  While we’re mainly searching locally, contacting people with whom we can work with locally, we’re also open to the possibility of incorporating someone from a different geographical area.  If you’re interested in becoming an editor for Thoughtsmith, keep checking the submissions page; I’m going to open up a category for editor applications within the next week or so.  On that page, I will list the responsibilities an editor would take on.  Unfortunately, because running Thoughtsmith is ultimately a labor of love, this is an unpaid position. (I figured I’d be as clear as possible about that.)

So keep an eye on this page.  The fall issue will be up shortly (and, as such, submission decisions will be coming very soon) and the changes we’re going to be implementing will be rolling out shortly thereafter.

All the best,
Benjamin Harris