If you are a regular reader or contributor to All Things Girl, you’ve likely noticed we haven’t quite been ourselves. Issues have been launching late, the blog is quiet, and though you haven’t heard anything, we’ve just been a little, well, off. To be honest, it’s been the elephant in the room among the ATG Staff, with no one asking “what’s going on here”. Even amongst those of us who actually see each other face-to-face or talk on the phone regularly.
I’m sure you know this, but here is another one of those elephants: All Things Girl is a labor of love and though we’d all like the magazine to make money one day, in the moment, it doesn’t. For each of us, first and foremost comes our paying work. But there are a plethora of reasons why we’ve been off our normal game: cross-Atlantic moves, cross country moves, family illness, family deaths, new work, exciting new relationships and just ennui.
In the past, when one of our senior staff falls behind, another one is there to pick up the slack. We realized, however, that it wasn’t just one of us, but several of us seemed to be underwhelmed with something we have all been passionate about: All Things Girl. As a whole, we were in a creative slump. Though many folks see Winter as a time of death, winter is actually a time of preparing for new birth. This past week we discovered a new found zest for this amazing piece of cyberspace and, in the past two days, the ATG team has accomplished more than we have on the Zine than we have in the last five months.
For the next few days, you will see a flurry of activity. We are taking the site down and restructuring our back-end. We’ve dusted off our ideas for a re-design and re-branding of All Things Girl that we had planned for our 10th Anniversary. And we decided to go forward by allowing you to share in that process. We’re set to launch our January/February issue on January 24th and until March 1st, we will be in official Beta Mode. As we re-design and re-structure we ask for your patience as well as your feedback.
I’m thrilled to share the next decade of All Things Girl with you. And encourage you to check in often over the next few weeks. We have some exciting things coming around the bend and can’t wait to share the next decade of fabulousness with you.
Much love and joy.
Deb Smouse, Editor in Chief
Sometimes I think a slump really is a recharge. And it is no wonder with life changes, the craziness of the holidays, even the expectations of change and correction in the new year. It is enough to zap the creative juice right out of even the most prolific word painters! And not to worry, I think it happens with magazines with mighty reputations as well. There is the occasional oops issue. Thin on articles, thick on ads and even the printing doesn’t always line up. The wonderful difference is that ATG at least acknowledges the hiccup. Thanks for writing it so splendidly Deb. I can’t wait to see what the staff recharge will bring! Cheers and happy new All Things Girl!