Eager Believer part 2...

Ferocious Graphics Quarterly, the first issue of which was due to be out in March, is now making its debut in May... or so it has been stated. It would seem that very few of the contributors were interested in submitting their work. I have attributed this to a lack of communication on the part of the Ferocious powers that be. The few e-mails that went out were so saturated with passive-aggressive mumbling that it was very hard to take them seriously.

Here is where I step in, uncharacteristically instigating a confrontation. You could almost call it an intervention. Whatever. This is what happened.

I sent an e-mail to He Who Must Not Be In Charge and highlighted what I thought were the reasons for FGQ's failure to launch on the appointed date. In short, I explained that I thought it was entirely his fault. No one knew where to submit their work or in what format to submit it, nor did anyone know if theirs would be the only work submitted. It's hard to partner with a group of people on a project when you have no idea if you're the only one working on it. No one wanted to waste their time carving a masthead for a ship that wasn't even going to be built.
So I suggested that the communication aspect of FGQ be handed over to someone who WASN'T friends with 90% of the contributors, someone who had no problem being a little harsh with the feet-dragging artists and writers whose work is so necessary for a publication like this, someone who isn't afraid to crack the proverbial whip. I was a manager at a video store, once upon a time. I know all about whip-cracking and crack-whipping.*

(*Note: This statement is made with a very little bit of sarcasm and just a smidgen of self-deprecation.)

The reply I got was... uh-oh...

Sorry. One of our daycare kids just threw-up. One of the many perks of having nine strange children sleep on your living-room floor. It's all cleaned up now. No worries.

The reply I got was one of total agreement and enthusiasm to share some of the administrative responsibilities. As it turns out, several other contributors had come forward offering to take specific roles as well.

So, I'm meeting with Machiavelli tomorrow night to discuss what this whole thing is going to look like. Hopefully, come May, this step will prove to have been the right one.

Thanks, you,
Matt Beers