Snail's pace

It's been a pretty busy week for me. Maddy and I both ended up with the flu, we celebrated her first birthday with most of our family and Keith's been gone covering the Scotties for the paper.  Even after a few years of him having to leave for a week at a time, three times (sometimes more) a year, it's still an adjustment. I will admit, though, that his absence this year is much, much easier to deal with than last year's - he had to leave for the first provincial bonspiel only a few weeks after Maddy was born. And because I live in Manitoba, and it was January, leaving the house with a tiny baby just for fun was out of the question.

But even with the slight chaos around here, I've managed to get a few things 'done'. I've updated my Monster and Workopolis profiles. I'm about 90% finished the two posters I'm going to put up around town, hopefully drumming up some local business. I still have to compose the ad(s) I'm going to submit to a local classified website. There's a deadline I've set - the end of January - to get some work and I'm determined to hit it. If I don't, back to work for me.

I do want this to work, though... even though a lot of my friends (and perhaps family, but they're more subtle about it) think it's a phase and that I'll snap out of it soon and get back to work. I'm not desperate to prove them wrong, but it's getting really, really frustrating trying to convince them that I do want to do this and I can do this. It'd just be nice to have some support, that's all.

My biggest fear, when this all gets off the ground, is that I will end up spreading myself too thin. It's a habit that's probably not going to be easy to break - I like to be busy and, more often than not, will bite off way more than I can chew. For the most part, I can usually keep up with everything, but now that I've got a child and everything that goes along with being the stay-at-home parent, I don't have access to all 24 hours of the day. It's going to take some time to figure out the priorities every day.

But things are progressing. Not quite at the speed I had hoped, but they're going forward, and at this point that's the main thing. Just can't let them stall or else I may as well just go out and get that job at McDonald's that my parents think I'm going to end up at anyway.

Sticking my toe in the water

I've been spending a fair amount of 'free' time I have lately trying to find inspiration to get moving on my somewhat-potentially-misguided attempt at working for myself. I've been scouring various - 100+ plus at this point - design blogs, looking for something to make me go 'I can do that. In fact, I can do it better!' in hopes that I will, in fact, do something that is better.

I am not a fan of replication. I have no problem with variation, but trying to do something someone else has done without even trying to put your own style on it? That's not design; that's no better than plagiarism, and as a journalist in a former life, that's completely sacreligious. A big no-no. I like to be inspired to do something fresh and new, not something that looks like 15 other things out there.

And there will be an occasional case where something I come up with will be quite similar to someone else's product, but it is more than likely pure coincidence, and not an attempt to move in on their territory. I know what I like, and I know my skill level. There are a lot of things out there I have no hopes of replicating or want to. I don't like frou-frou stuff, but I do have a great admiration for a lot of pre-WWII art and will take full advantage of being influenced by it.

As for the blogs I've been scouring, I've bookmarked a lot of them here. One day, I'll try to get around to including them on my blog as a permanent, always-evolving list, but for now, this is the easiest method. And because I'm not only a graphic designer but a crafter, too, there are a small, but growing, number of non-GD blogs I've got on that list. I want to try my hand at jewelry design sometime in the next year and would like to start sewing more, but as with everything else in my life right now, time is not on my side. But with a little organization and help from Keith and my mom (and anyone else who's willing), I should be able to set aside some time to actually work on my products. *fingers crossed*

Here goes...

My attempt at getting some freelance work. This is actually a business card prototype - likely the winner in final bracket of 7 - that I'm planning on handing out and pinning up on bulletin boards around town. I like it, I think people will like it and it's hopefully what will get me some work and help pay the bills.

In case you're interested, I work (and have for 13, almost 14, years) in print. I have a wee bit of web experience, but it's nothing to write home about. Compiling a portfolio to put online is on my list of things I need to do, but haven't yet. I'm the first to admit that my skills aren't the greatest, but they've improved vastly over the last 6 or 7 years and I'm always willing to learn and figure out new techniques. I'm quick and try to be original, but take a lot of influence from eras gone by, especially pre-WWII.

So, that's it. My first step into the wonderful world of freelance. My name is out there. Or, rather, my prototype business card is out there. Kind of exciting, yet nauseating all at the same time.