Well, that was an epic issue!

by Kerrie Subritzky

September's Beacon was a huge challenge to produce, not just because it was of epic proportions - 50% more pages than usual, and 75% more copies printed (yes, our print run is now 23,300!) ...
No. It was because for the first time ever we missed our print deadline!

We had some “technical difficulties” which caused us to miss our slot in the print queue, which caused us to miss our spot in the overnight truck, which meant I had to get up at 5am to drive to Beacon Print (no relation!) in Whakatane to pick it up and get it to our Auckland distributors.

My mum offered to come along for the ride, and turned out she was quite handy when it came to loading the vehicle - I had anticipated there would be a few guys who could do their thing and load us up in ten minutes or so while we found a cafe, but sadly, no. The lads of the outfit had the morning off so it was down to the chicks - me, Taryn from Beacon Print, and my elderly mum (don't tell her I said 'elderly') - who formed a chain gang of three to load the 920kg of Beacons into the vehicle and trailer.

We lumbered off with our load and called in to Waitakaruru on the Hauraki Plains to hand-deliver a copy to my dad (who was starring on the front cover). He was pretty chuffed.

As I slowly recovered from the massive effort of that week, privately lamenting over some typos and the layout not being quite how I had planned it, I was grateful that those on the receiving end of the Beacon (you!) were blissfully unaware of the turbulent events that preceded delivery.
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There’s always a silver lining in every cloud, and it often makes a great story!

Kerrie Subritzky