Stepping Down as Editor

I have been the editor of and a contributing writer for the annual Massachusetts State Button Society Bulletin since taking on the job in 2006 and putting out my first magazine in 2007. This is my tenth year putting the magazine together and it has been the most difficult year with a death in the family, my husband losing his job less than 3 weeks later, more stress at work for me with the changing face of health care, personal health issues, coping with my husband's depression and moodiness as he struggles to find a new job, my father-in-law's recent hospitalization after a bad fall, and no contribution of articles from anyone in eastern MA where the majority of local clubs are located. Four of us in the local western MA button club and one collector from New Hampshire- the same people who have carried the burden of producing this usually 42-page magazine since I took over as editor- contributed. It's been fun in the past. I've earned Massachusetts the best state button society bulletin ranking but the joy has flickered and died out right now. When I asked for help at the beginning of February no one stepped forward, so this year the magazine is ten pages shorter. It will still be full color. I did the best I could with what I had, and am thankful to Kelly, Betty, Pam and Lorna for their articles. I need to get it printed and then distributed at the April 16th show in Shirley, MA and then I'm done.

It's time to concentrate on my own writing projects and let someone else take the reins and lead the Bulletin into the future.

That's why I've been on the quiet side this past week-just trying to get that magazine together and ready for the printer. Finished it this afternoon.