Tomorrow’s my last day at home/work before we all take off (yet again!) for another trip. This time to Seattle to celebrate the launch of dottie angel. I can’t believe how quickly the year has gone since Finley, Glen and I first met Tif and her family at Mossy Shed.
When I look back at the 18 months since Finley was born, I can scarcely believe at how much the magazine has grown (let alone my baby boy!)… and that I’ve also released FOUR books: The Elegant Cockroach, Work/Life 2, A Collection a Day and dottie angel. That’s over 1600 pages of content. People often ask “How do you do it?” The answer is simple and difficult at the same time. I just do. Each magazine issue, each book, has its own set of steps. If I just do one thing, then the next, and the next… just keep going and it will get done. Some of the steps are easy and joyful (design, editing, creating), other steps are long, arduous, stressful and not much fun at all (logistics, bills, shipping). But even when the steps seem painfully impossible, I know that if I just push my way through, things will get done. And so even getting one step done in the long process becomes a reward in itself.
Publishing UPPERCASE magazine and creating books is the road that I’m on. I am happy to be on it! Though I am grateful that I started on this path before having a baby. Being the owner of your own business has the benefit of flexibility. My workspace and worktime have been adjustable (for the first year, I designed the magazine, Cockroach, Work/Life 2 and Collection a Day from my basement at odd fits and spurts between feedings, playing and changings.) Glen and I juggle our creative work time with looking after our child; having a supportive partner like Glen makes my work possible. (Glen has been working hard, too—he has finished writing the first draft of his second novel!)
In some ways, I think that I have pushed myself so hard in a creative and business sense because I had a baby. I did not want motherhood to impede my own pursuits and I set out to prove it to myself. My child benefits from a mother who is creatively challenged—and happier for it. Though I would really like to reduce my to-do list (and assign some of those steps to someone else) to free up more time for thinking, musing, planning, playing, making and doing nothing. Indeed, finding that help is a step coming up on my list.
Step one? Spend a lovely few days in Seattle with my great little family, the wonderful Tif and her clan… rest, relax and have a well-deserved vacation.
If you’re in the Seattle area this Friday, please do come by Assemble and visit.
A digital mockup of the front of the book launch invitation
(Oh, and out of curiosity I’m also going to check out what “big” publishers do and attend the Design*Sponge book release celebration at Anthropologie the night before.)
