Another Thursday, another deadline

My life has been organized by the weekly deadlines of Numismatic News for nearly 40 years.

In that time, the deadline has not changed.

At 1 p.m. the paper goes to the printer in Shawano, a community that is not far from Iola, Wis.

Deadlines make it a race.

There always seems to be more that I want to put into the paper than time or space will allow.

With each issue I feel like I am writing a personal letter to every single subscriber.

"This is what has happened since I last wrote you a week ago," is always in my mind.

The Internet has changed the timeline to daily, but the rhythm of the weekly deadline still organizes my life.

The paper for whatever reason still seems more real to me.

But I am not alone.

Many individuals still specifically request that items be put in a paper issue.

They want the satisfaction of seeing their material in the physical newspaper.

How long that attitude will last, I cannot say, but I always do my best to comply.

Putting information out there in a way that is most highly valued is part of my job.

I will keep doing it.

It does not mean I value this blog less or the electronic issues less.

Let’s just say I understand the mixture of information gathering and the nostalgia of a newspaper that will be 65 years old on Oct. 13.

Nostalgia and history go together.

They are a part of the collector experience.

As long as there is a paper, this weekly deadline will hold for me.

Sure, I have to write a blog before I check those last newspaper pages this morning, but the time frame is still dictated by the paper.

In two more years it will be 50 years since I obtained my first copy of Numismatic News at a local coin show.

My how times have changed.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper has twice won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."

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