Once again, the e-zine is out but out 2 weeks late. I guess I should probably explain what's going on.

I'm not creating this e-zine myself. I have a few contributors who I count on. Sometimes, through no fault of their own, they can't meet the deadline. And, personally, I'm a last minute kind of guy. If I need to edit stories or whatever, I usually get that done a week or two in advance. Coding the stories into HTML I usually do the day of or the day before I plan to put the e-zine up. Perhaps not terribly professional, but certainly commiserate with what I'm paid.

That's a joke.

There's also the question of getting the stories. So far, I've been pretty lucky. Mostly, there are a few regular contributors who offer quality material and to them I am eternally grateful. However, I can't go live until I have at least three stories. That's my own little rule. The zine is sparse enough as it is without cheaping out on the number of stories I can offer.

Now, I also want to give those writers with stories in the zine the full 4 week exposure. Because of that, even when I've been ready to go on the First or the first weekend of a month (has that ever happened? I'm not telling) I will wait until the four weeks has passed. I think it's only fair since the only payment I can offer is exposure.

And, of course, the holidays are coming up. You know that's going to cause problems. I hope nobody minds if there's a double-size December/January issue. I've got a lot of stuff to do in the next month, and it may include moving again (my temporary appointment may be coming due, depending on staff availability and the results of a performance review!).

Hopefully, come February, everything will be back on track. February will, after all, be the one month anniversary of the launch of "Sword's Edge." I've got the champagne all ready to go.