Launch Day Nerves
Most of you know that I serve as the Managing Editor of An Unexpected Journal, a quarterly publication of imaginative apologetics. You might not know that we are launching a new issue tomorrow morning. I personally feel like it is one of our best ever. This collection seems to fit together in a particularly special way. I don’t think we have ever had a bad issue, for the record, but some issues are stronger than others.
Still, I have to admit that I am nervous about tomorrow morning when anyone in the world can see what we have done.
I have been watching the new Beatles documentary as so many other people have, and I can somewhat relate to the pressure they felt on a much smaller scale. Because they had done great work before, there was pressure to continue doing great work. While our platform is substantially smaller than theirs, I feel a similar responsibility to the people who have supported us. I want to live up to their expectations and not disappoint them. I want them to be as excited as I am every time a new issue comes out. We have had many great issues, so the next issue has to be just as great, if not greater.
The combination of confidence and nervousness is interesting, for lack of a better word. I know it is great, and I am very excited about it, but the nerves are still there. I guess that is normal whenever you make yourself vulnerable and share something important to you with the general public.
I think these nerves are somewhat healthy, though. The nerves push me to try to do better. The nerves push me to try to edit better, give better feedback, and encourage greatness. Granted, most of our team can write better than I can, in my opinion, but I do what I can to help propel us forward. I would never pretend to be the greatest editor in the world, but I hope I at least keep us organized so that we continue to move further up and further in.
You will have to check out our website tomorrow morning and see what you think of this issue. This is now our sixteenth issue, equating to four years of working on this project. Most of our team remains the same and volunteers their time every three months to put together something wonderful. I am grateful to them for what they do, and I hope that you enjoy the fruits of our labor.