A week of figuring it out

Progress on all fronts without major accomplishments is always a little hard to claim as progress. I’ve been told that I’ve inspired others which should always be considered a major win. I’m also proud of fitting in some exercise, getting the garden watered and that sort of thing.

On the downside one photograph came back ‘rejected’ so now it’s time to find it a new home and future. I know what I’m doing with my next big efforts and just have to find the time to implement them. My new wireless setup should be up and working next week so that will be the litmus test for getting a little more done.

I’ve been reminded this week that pushing too hard will just make the Universe push back so I’m trying to fit some downtime in there as well. It’s not always easy to stay focused with everything going on but it’s still worth the effort.

Technorati Tags: balance

Technical upgrades

My big accomplishment for the week has been redesigning my mobile technology so that I can get everything done.  It should be simpler than it is but with phones and mobile broadband, smart phones vs netbooks there’s a lot to work out.  The final resolution is to downgrade the cell phone, upgrade the netbook and add mobile broadband to my cable account.  The end result should be no more unreliable wifi and being able to do everything internet related on the road.  I hope.  I’ll find out in about a week when everything arrives.

Beyond that, I’ve been working on organizational things – the plan is to get back to be more consistent with posting and get the newsletter really up and running.  It’s not exciting or glamorous  but it makes that stuff possible. I’m looking forward to more creativity this week.

Technorati Tags: efficiency, getting things done

Heading into summer

Some weeks are just made up of living and this was one of them.  The vegetable garden is ready for planting and fresh seeds purchased. An unexpected  court report written for my volunteer work, a print dropped of for a fund-raising auction and the like.

Not to mention a little research into wireless alternatives – the train is unfortunately getting old and unreliable in terms of wifi. While the iPhone is one sexy gadget, it’s also expensive and by \itself would not provide the best solution.  I’m determined not to add to my overall monthly bills so any increases must be met with a matching reduction somewhere.

All in all I’m looking forward to May, warmer weather, more light and more progress.

Follow through

It might not look like much but it’s been a big week for getting things out the door and into other people’s hands. Pictures off to a new gallery to see if that might be a fit, a submission off to a museum exhibit/competition, and a donation prepared for a black-tie fund raiser auction; all for photography. I don’t expect anyone of these things to be a big break but rather steps towards more presence in the art community and recognition. Brand building in other words.

I also know what I have to do to push the websites to the next level and gradually working through how to do the individual steps. The inconsistent wireless on the train has me eying all the new gadgets out there but the monthly bills have me holding back! I’m hoping something shows up soon that will make my work time more consistent.

Doesn’t mean that looking out the window is always a bad thing – between typing the first paragraph I saw a sea otter on the beach (very rare where I live) and a bald eagle trying to get altitude with his catch. If there were a sound track it could be a Nature special.

I’m looking forward to planting the vegetable garden this weekend and getting a little more spring cleaning done. Gradually things are falling into place.

Technorati Tags: getting things done

More small steps

I used to be a morning person.  Now I’m a mid-morning person so dragging myself out of bed at 4:30 am on a weekend should say something about my dedication. It certainly kept me from feeling energetic for the rest of the week.

On the bright side, I’ve got a couple hundred more tulip photographs to add into existing projects. I’ve also finished the first draft of the first section of the road trip book and ready to get started on the next one.

To improve efficiency I finally got my dishwasher fixed – and the world immediately brightened by not having the constant chore of dishes hanging over me.  I’ve also started a master list of content for all the websites for the next year which should save some head-scratching time especially in the pre-dawn hours.

All in all a good week with a little bit more attention to ‘doing’

Onward!

A simple truth is that getting up at 4:30 am is not conducive to creativity for me- so this week I’ve focused on the nuts and bolts. Getting supplies in, getting some nagging appointments out of the way and getting started on Spring cleaning.

I’ve done some preliminary work for a few photography competitions I’ve got my eye on but otherwise I’m behind on getting emails out and the like. I’m looking forward to getting caught up this weekend and on to new things.  It’s not been a glamorous week but on the other hand no new disasters either…

Synchronicity from all directions

If I had my preference synchronicity would mean buyers showing up at my door out of the blue with a checkbook already out. Instead this week it meant messages from all directions to take pictures and establish patterns of behavior – at least that’s what it meant to me.

• An online video recommended The War of Art (affiliate link)- the third time I’ve seen that book stressed in the last month. On a whim I check the used-book store and they have one copy. The key message of this little book – planning and studying isn’t doing and you have to keep ‘doing’ no matter what.
• A chance check of a local gallery website to see if they still reviewed portfolios for exhibitions (they don’t) alerted me to a new exhibit by my favorite photographer entitled ‘New Work’ opening the very next day. I was curious to see how his work had changed from what I was familiar with. I went but found that only about four photographs out of thirty had been done in the last two years. The bulk of them dating from the mid 1980′s and early ’90s. You have to keep doing.
• Another website I maintain saw a sudden spike in visitors – 11,000% from the previous day. That’s like stepping on the scale and losing ten pounds from the day before. Why the sudden surge? A brief post on odd art from about a month ago that got picked up in a search engine’s suggested topics. Nobody really noticed it when I posted it, but a month later they did. You have to keep doing.

While not glamorous my big accomplishment for the week was getting my taxes done. Otherwise, baby steps in all areas; I ordered the jewelry supplies I need to continue, edited the working files for the Yellowstone essay (book project) and fit in some yard work and the like.

Technorati Tags: synchronicity, thinking isn't doing

A week of new ideas

Sunshine and some playtime began the week with a whole new photographic style for me – it’s becoming more abstract and I think even stronger.  Now I’m looking for new venues for this aspect – maybe those modern galleries downtown aren’t so far out of reach after all…;-)

Beyond that it’s  been a long week with ‘progress’ meaning I got the basics done – and sometimes that is progress.  I think it’s human nature to think that mountain climbing means summiting a peak on a daily basis. The reality is that mountain climbing is really about putting one foot in front of the other when it’s most challenging.  My challenge this week has been keeping my emotional distance -something I’m really bad at, so bad that I occasionally even consider it a positive trait! But getting dragged into drama with family and work where my input doesn’t de-escalate the situation and doesn’t move me forward (or anyone else for that matter.)  I like to get things that are unsettled settled so I can forget about them – which is where patience comes in.  Sometimes you just have to let things go and be prepared to deal with them when they come back at you.

I’ve been working on my travel essay instead. And deciding that a simple feng shui solutions book will be my first e-book.  It’s a popular topic, I have several illustrations ready and I won’t get hung up in editing the text forever because it’s going to be simple lists.  I’m looking forward to getting started but it will have to wait another week, I think. The U.S. government is claiming my attention this weekend with the looming tax date – might as well just get it done.

Technorati Tags: baby steps, creativity, letting go

The last week of Winter

You might not know it by the weather where you are but Spring starts tomorrow.  I think it’s going to be a good one. There’s something about the season when absolutely everything is growing around you that inspires the same (anyone in the southern hemisphere can just bookmark this for 6 months from now;-)

My big accomplishment for the week was redesigning this website – most of Sunday with a few tweaks throughout the week.  It was hard to let the old one go, but it wasn’t flexible enough now that the site is a year old.  My other big accomplishment has simply been keeping up with all the posts and my regular ‘assignments’.  There’s a lot to do.

And I’m beginning to work on two small e-books and getting excited about learning how to put them together, what pictures to use and the like.

Ordinary real life took it’s share of time too – phone calls for my volunteer case, a little ranting over the questions on this year’s census form that came in the mail (more on that later) and the like.

Pretty soon I need to decide what I want to do around art shows this summer – I don’t feel equipped to take that on right now but at the same time, will I ever? I have to evaluate my goals against what’s feasible over the next few weeks.  The older I get the faster time moves…

Slow progress

This last week centered around showing my jewelry to the museum shop on Wednesday. There was prep work ahead of that and recovery time afterwards!  It went well and I learned a lot. I came away without immediate sales but specific requests and another meeting in a few months.  Now I need to apply what I’ve learned and continue the marketing.  Doing anything the first time is at least twice as hard as the second so I’m looking forward to when I get to the 100th and it all seems easy.  While it was more of a challenge to juggle my schedule around a job this meeting underscored that these things take time to develop; I’m glad I made alternative plans for income while my passion jobs incubate.  I know that’s not what most people want to hear – how to make a million while sitting under a palm tree sells a whole lot better than how to juggle a full-time job and your own business while still trying to have a life.  I’ll write the palm tree book in twenty years when hind sight makes it all look so easy.  I’ll have forgotten how nervous I was on that first sales call and only remember how naturally it all came together.

That said, I was doing pretty well on keeping my schedule together until Friday when the trains weren’t running. That meant switching over to wi-fi free buses and emerging damp and grumpy.  Sometimes it’s good to get a reminder of how easily carefully crafted plans can fall apart.  But you make do. You write the Friday blog post on Saturday morning and realize it’s not that big a deal.  It is a test of how much you want something; how much are you willing to do to achieve the goal?  I’m still feeling pretty darn determined.

« Previous Page — Next Page »