Art & Soul

Where Are You Going?

When you go for a degree in commercial art (advertising art, visual communications, graphic design, etc.), they give you a little taste of everything. You get to try illustration, design, and nowadays, multimedia and web design.

You leave school not only thinking that you want to do it all, but that you CAN do it all.

Some people can. I can't.

I tried. I've done everything from newsletters for the Dixie Chicks to slide shows for AT&T. From billboards of giant shoes to animations of small-bladdered puppies.

Because I was following so many paths, I wasn't really getting anywhere. Once I focused in on ONE thing (in my case, children's publishing), I started getting somewhere.

I started getting somewhere because I finally knew where SOMEWHERE was.

Now I can see where I am and where I'm going.

It may not be a straight path. There is always more than one way to get to a destination, but at least I always know which direction to move. Every side path still moves me forward.

When you don't have a destination, you can wind up going in circles or worse, back tracking.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.

The best way to choose a destination is to follow your heart. Do what you're passionate about. I love children's books, my choice was easy.

Do you know where you're going?

Reinvesting in Me

Because illustrating and writing for children is such an enjoyable occupation, it's sometimes easy to forget I'm also running a business.

An important aspect of running a business, whether it's a colorful, fun, stay-at-home business or a stodgy old necktie and pantyhose type place, is putting money back into the business. Equipment, supplies, training, and advertising are all part of doing business—ask any CEO out there.

Unfortunately, there's not a limitless supply of funds to reinvest. I have to be picky about how I spend the cash.

I have no qualms about purchasing the equipment and supplies I need, but when it comes to actually investing in the human resource side of things (that's me), my fist tightens around the money and some little voice inside of me says, "You don't really NEED that."

I hate that little voice. It's a liar.

When I look back at the ways I have invested in my career, I can't find a single investment that hasn't paid off. Some of my best investments have included business coaching, writing workshops, professional critiques, and SCBWI conferences.

Now I have to decide how I'm going to reinvest in myself this year. Advertising and education are at the top of my list, as is a laptop computer, so I can write at Starbucks with all the REAL writers. :-)

Possibilities include:

• Picture Book Ad
• LA Conference
• Dallas Conference
• Mazza Summer Institute
• Story Design 5-day Workshop
• Painter upgrade
• Laptop computer and T-Mobile account

I look forward to reinvesting in my business this year and watching it grow next year. I'm following a path, and everything I can do to help me skip a few yards is worth the investment.

Aim High

It may seem like a strange time of the year to be thinking about goals. Aren't we supposed to do that on January 1st? Isn't there some kind of rule about it?

I'm not much on New Year's resolutions. I like to take my goals out and look at them all year long and evaluate my progress.

I try to aim high. I have some really huge long term goals. Some of them I'll never even get close to, but that's okay. The higher I aim, the farther I get.

I used to subscribe to the idea that goals should be achievable and within reach. Somewhere along the line though, I realized that if my goals were too close at hand, I didn't reach any farther than needed to achieve them. I settled.

If I set my goals really high (think Caldecott here) and don't make it, I'll still end up a lot farther ahead than if I'd aimed for something that seemed more reasonable and attainable.

Michelangelo said, "The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."

So dream big and aim high!

One Step at a Time

By nature, I am not a linear thinker; I am, rather, a chaotic thinker. I tend to see the whole project at once in my mind and let the ideas just flash and crash in at will. This is GREAT for brainstorming!

Unfortunately, it's not so great when it actually comes down to doing something about a project; a) the project seems overwhelming, and b) it's very difficult to know where to start.

Seeing the big picture is good, but to get it done, you have to break it down into steps, and worse, you have to do them in order. You can think about what it takes to make a cake in any order you like, but you still have to crack the eggs before you can mix the batter. So while I'm a chaotic thinker, I've had to train myself to become a linear doer.

Each project will need it's own set of steps, but these are usually in there somewhere for me:

• Ideas
• Thumbnails
• Roughs
• Feedback
• Finishes
• Delivery

If you can further break down each step into smaller chunks (units, chapters, pages, etc), even better! Breaking a project down into logical, bite-sized steps makes it seem manageable rather than overwhelming. It also allows you to see and track your progress, which can be very motivating.