Hey, guess what took me 40+ years to learn? It’s ok to ask for help. Help comes in all varieties, the serious kind, life transitions, relationships, family, career and health. Those are the biggins and somehow it seems easier or more acceptable to reach out during those times. For me, it’s the not so dire kind of help but critical nonetheless to small business owners/independent artists that can stop me up for days, weeks. Ok fine, years. The I don’t know how to format these files or I just need to talk this through or how do you set up Fedex or operate Mailchimp or order small batch print runs or create your own website or or or. The ‘what do you do” factor and can you help me to do it too friend? I’m very fortunate to have an assortment of friends like these, all of them sagey guru no nonsense let’s get this shit DONE kind of friends. All of them very knowledgable in their own creative field: books, painting, wholesale operations, retail buying, publishing, workshops, professionally baking and graphic design. To start!
I suppose if you were to ask them, they would categorize me as that friend too and as that friend, I LOVE to help people, problem solve and find creative solutions. So with that in mind, I must remember that if I love to help, probably maybe these fabulous friends like to reach out a hand too?
I’m writing a book. More accurately, the book is written. There are more chapters than book space but what there isn’t, is organization of said book into some kind of publishable document. And the time has come. The 2018 clock is ticking and somewhere in several journals and day planners I’ve scrawled ransom note style in black Sharpie I WILL FINISH PUBLISH BOOK NO MATTER WHAT WHATEVER IT TAKES. FOR SURE. NO EXCUSES.
Yeah. Well that’s great in January. Now it’s November and I’m taking this hostage letter seriously because our goals don’t go away. They just get more irritating when you don’t complete them. And this isn’t a brand new fresh goal. It’s been lingering for so long that I either need to cut the rope and let this ship sail away or set down an anchor and really do the work to get it in the world. I write, I paint, I want these two to go together. I always have, long before an illustrated book was even a thing. I’m going to give it a try.
Enter help. I’ve invested time and money in the following: online writing course, several excellent writing podcasts that I regularly listen to, endless books on writing/creative life (because I have also discovered that you can insert the word “painting, drawing, cooking, running, anything” into these creative missives and they all apply), a writing check-in buddy. And that’s all wonderful and useful. But I need the next step and that’s where I’m stuck and where I need help and where I’m realizing that what is easy for one person, paralyzes the next.
Thank god for the friend village!!
One of these friends is coming over this afternoon for tea, cake and work. I’ve got out the good china and the yummy snacks. We must be fortified and visually inspired as we do the work. And what is the work? It’s taking all the pages, the chapters, the images and sorting them into some coherent order of a manuscript. It’s culling the chapters and blog posts and lying them flat on my dining room table and taking a birds eye view of what’s on the menu and compiling them into one document so said document is closer to uploading to one of the many self publishing platforms available. Do you think I can do that alone? Apparently not. So I have asked for help and it’s on the way and I’m brimming with relief, gratitude and possibility.
Even if it’s not “done” today, that’s ok. I’m further along.
PS. And why does a fur person dog collage accompany this post? Not entirely sure. Maybe these loving quirky creatures represent our family and friends who we can reach out to for their expertise, humor and joy. They’re the ones who cheer us on, give us the straight talk, eat our cake, reach back for help and high five the power of two power hour coffee dates. We’ve found our pack. xo
“Les Chiens” 20×24″ SOLD