You have arrived at the publication standards page of the Journal, a bimonthly publication of Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous.
The following are prerequisites to considering a set of files print-ready.
The absence of an approval response from a specific director or manager over a five business day period from request for approval shall waive the approval requirement for said director or manager.
The print-ready file set can be sent to the approved print vendor or print-and-mail vendor, currently the F.W.S. Office.
Each issue of the Journal shall have content to satisfy each of the following groups.
The Journal brand was redesigned in March of 2009 to thrive in the new millennium.
The cover of the Journal shall fulfill the following requirements.
The Journal has no Editorial Board, however there is a seven-layer convention of accountability.
(a) Content is generated by S.L.A.A. members, who generally know something about addiction and recovery. They submit the content because they feel that it is appropriate for a recovery audience. About 95% of the paragraphs and stanzas contributed are found to be appropriate. Sometimes an editorial comment at the beginning of the piece is necessary to properly introduce a piece that is near the edge.
(b) The Managing Editor, required to have at least two years of continuous bottom line sobriety, selects content appropriate for publication. Each creative contribution is edited to eliminate ambiguity, grammatical confusion, triggering language or imagery, and assertions that conflict with the Twelve Traditions, while preserving the perspectives of the author to the greatest degree reasonably possible. One or more Editorial Assistants, each of whom must have at least one year of continuous bottom line sobriety, may assists in these activities.
(c) At least two further proofreaders, who must be solid members of S.L.A.A., review the content and can preemptively flag any politically, sexually, or socially inappropriate content.
(d) The Journal Executive Director, to whom the Managing Editor reports, and the members of the C.J.C. are free to address any patterns of content that are offensive or inappropriate during any C.J.C. meeting, which the Managing Editor is required to attend, or via emails between meetings.
(e) If the above measures fail, delegates, the C.C.C., and B.O.T. members can provide feedback and, if found to be necessary, request that Executive Director and C.J.C. replace the Managing Editor, warn that replacement is eminent, or request a halting of publication until the issue is resolved.
(f) Anyone in the fellowship can submit a motion to the B.M.I.S. to take any corrective action deemed necessary.
(g) If all above measures fail to remedy the condition and the condition is so severe that the fellowship is at serious risk, the B.O.T. can issue a legal cease and desist order or pursue injunctive relief.
To our knowledge, in twenty-one years of operation, nothing beyond item (d) has ever been necessary.
Let's use two sentences from The First Ten Years of the Journal to illustrate. The modifications shown here are NOT changes that an Editor would make before publication. They merely clarify the difference between reading and writing levels.
The first example is from the Journal's 1998 January-February issue.
(1) original sentence
"I occasionally slept with my ex-partner if things did not work out with the men I dated since we never really ended things totally."
(2) sixth grade writing, postgraduate reading
"I engaged in coitus with my ex-partner, if occasionally a sufficient addictive connection was not realized during the dating of men since we never really gained entirely any closure."
(3) postgraduate writing, postgraduate reading
"Occasionally, when I was not able to achieve a sufficiently addictive connection with the men I dated, I slept with my former partner, with whom I had never really found closure."
(4) sixth grade writing, sixth grade reading
"I slept with my ex-partner, if sometimes things did not work out with those men I dated since we never really ended totally things."
(5) postgraduate writing, sixth grade reading
"Sometimes things would not work out with the men I dated, so I would sleep with my former partner. Our relationship had never really ended."
To understand (2) the reader must have either a good vocabulary or a dictionary. The reader would also need to have exposure to the therapeutic concepts of closure and addictive connection. As is typical of sixth grade writing, the grammar of (2) is malformed; so most people will stumble when reading. For many readers the process of comprehension will go slowly. Most readers will discard the sentence entirely.
Comprehension of (5) is easy. The sentences are short; the grammar is correct; the vocabulary is basic; and the message is clear. New S.L.A.A. members with a high school education will read (5) without trouble. The thoughts and feelings of the writer are communicated effectively.
Here's another example from the 1997 September-October issue of the Journal.
"During this period, I balanced the shame of codependent, addictive relationships with over-achievement and sexual fantasies featuring unavailable men and women; the pain of over-achievement and compulsive yearning for a fantasy rescuer were themselves compensated for by bouts of uncontrolled eating and drinking, which provided 'safety valves' for the whole system."
Similar thoughts and emotions can be expressed using collegiate level writing in a way that a child could read them.
"I was ashamed of myself for not being able to leave these terrible relationships. One of my escapes was to think up stories about men and women who would come and rescue me from my loneliness, but I always picked imaginary rescuers who were not willing to be with me in real life. To bury the pain I would loose myself in long hours at work and uncontrolled eating and drinking."
Again, we're merely examining some communications concepts. These are NOT changes that an Editor should make. A professional Editor preparing the original sentence for publication would probably merely add the missing definite article "the" before "compulsive yearning", change the preposition "by" to "with" and change the semicolon to a period, capitalizing the first letter of the new sentence.
You can find some great examples of postgraduate level writing for sixth grade level reading in the children's section of any library or bookstore.
My recommendation to writers and editors for the Journal is to work to achieve college level writing technique targeted for high school level readers.