Chris Hayes

it's a hard-knock life (for editors)

The holidays may already be upon us (indicated by temperatures in the low 60s), but it already feels like February to me. We just finished up our January issue with fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi on the cover, and things at PBG Lifestyle seem to be getting better with every passing day. It’s been almost fifteen months since I first joined the magazine and I’ve written nearly a dozen Letters from the Editor; from what I can tell, there’s nowhere to look but up.

Starting in 2010, residents can not only find us in Palm Beach (Main Street News) and Stuart (Soda Stop), but now at eight Walgreens locations running from Palm Beach Gardens to Palm City. Visit our new Distribution page (built by yours truly) for more information.

After a long weekend of relaxation – a Florida Panthers game on Friday, followed by an evening in Boca, and then my high school’s alumni party on Saturday (within walking distance of my apartment, no less) – it’s back to the grind for this South Florida editor. See you on the shelves!

the saga continues

The June issue has been distributed and received rave reviews. So far almost everyone who has read it is saying that “each issue is better than the last” and the magazine owners are telling me that “the magazine will soon start selling itself.” Meanwhile, other South Florida mags are facing hard times due to outlandish advertising charges with minimal returns. Right now I’m just trying to catch my breath; I’ve never seen my iCal packed with so many events and deadlines. July is coming up which means, as Huey Lewis & the News would say, Sports! Writing up the story from my interview with Dara Torres as we speak, preparing myself for my Ottis Anderson interview in a few days, and editing our story on Blake Koch. My job could be worse.

On an semi-work-related note, my first “commercial” Web site has officially gone live, so check it out here: Theatre Orchestra of Florida. Only took me a couple weeks of coding and 4 months of tweaking to meet specifications. Next step: Textpattern.

updates

So, I made a few small changes in the site as of late. Along with reformatting the Delicious Bookmarks at the bottom and the blog entries, I’ve also finally found the time to add to my portfolio section the covers for the last three issues, a.k.a. my first three issues as primary editor…yes I know, I’m incredible. Bad new though: sadly, I do not have the final versions of all of my stories from these months, so there are no PDFs or images for the articles just yet…but give it time, I’m on it.

hot off the presses

I’ve got three more stories this month, and it’s a pretty interesting group – from a marketing entrepreneur who uses books as PR to a couple who hope to raise over $400,000 to raise awareness and about and help prevent heart disease and stroke, to a Ph.D here in Jupiter who has been spending his entire career trying to cure childhood cancer.