Christian*New Age Quarterly's

Did somebody say late?

Alas, it's true. After over fifteen years of releasing issues in a timely fashion each quarter, Christian*New Age Quarterly has temporarily drifted off its publishing schedule.

As I wrote in my July-September 2004 editorial, "when any one aspect tips out of balance, a cascading effect ripples through all." Today, the truth of those words is indeed more stunning than ever. That cascading effect continues to haunt our publishing schedule. Moreover, in my pursuit of punctuality, only the highest priorities that directly serve to complete the next issue — then the next, then the next — manage to get accomplished. All else is relegated to those ever-amassing piles that crowd each corner and commandeer every surface in my office.

To boot, I really have this thing about late.

If you're in the fast-paced business world, you may know too well what I mean. You yourself may be grappling with the same relentless race against the clock. The messages of our society, with all the deadlines, all the ads screaming, "act now!" and "limited time offer!" — all the pressures to produce increasingly higher quantities in ever-shrinking allotments of time — undoubtedly have a way of intensifying the anxieties that swirl around late.

As for me, when I face a looming deadline, I get discombobulated. I actually accomplish less in the same amount of time. The energy that would naturally, in and of itself, be creative energy is instead diverted into the hurry-it-up sprint to beat deadline. Quality suffers, creativity suffers, productivity suffers, I suffer — and the harder I push against time, the later becomes whatever the project on my plate.

Clearly, lest my gray hair turn a new shade of gray, Christian*New Age Quarterly cannot continue to be late. We need to chart a gentler course. And here's the plan.

Christian*New Age Quarterly will continue to sequence its issues in the standard four per volume. Yet, from here on, the number of months each subsequent issue covers will reflect the actual span. By so doing, C*NAQ will circumvent absurdities, such as the ridiculous misnomer — July-September 2005 — worn by Volume 17, Number 3, which was released in mid-October.

In actuality, very little will change. Simply, C*NAQ's publishing schedule will accurately reflect what has, in fact, already changed — changed not through design, but by virtue of a slip in time. By adhering to our traditional numerical sequencing system, a recordkeeping nightmare is very neatly sidestepped. And we will not resort to that all-too-common tactic of publishing double-issues to get back on track. A four-issue subscription remains a four-issue subscription. Volume numbers likely will not continue to match calendar years, but that seems to me to be inconsequential.

Still, one immensely significant, rather delicious, and downright essential change has occurred: Christian*New Age Quarterly is no longer late!

Let me hasten to add — whoops, let me leisurely add — Christian*New Age Quarterly will remain a quarterly. I fully intend to restore a quarterly publishing schedule, though perhaps a flexible one, and getting there may take a while.

Foremost to me, and I trust to our readers as well, the quality of the publication will remain our top priority. Publishing high-caliber material is, quite frankly, an inherently time-gobbling process — it always has been and it will continue to be so. But we won't cut corners and sacrifice quality just for the sake of a date on the calendar. Simply, we will take the time to do it right.

I thank all the friends of Christian*New Age Quarterly for your understanding and support.

The above is a revised excerpt of "Through the Editor's Eyes: Ease on Down the Road," by Catherine Groves, featured in the October 2005-July 2006 issue.

© 2006 Christian*New Age Quarterly. All rights reserved.