The Homestretch

I sit in the dark again this morning, but in contrast to the gloom and rain of yesterday, a rosy dawn is peeking in through the kitchen windows. I still don't have any coffee--Dave is out of town till tonight so I am On My Own and haven't started it yet. Likewise there is no music as the Sprout lies still sleeping in my bed. She made the morning pilgrimage and came in about 4:00 am. But wait, the music of the morning is birdsong! Somebody out there in the backyard is trilling about the day. A Sign! A Positive Sign of Hope!

(The dog at the right comes into the story later... just wait.)

As we come into the last week before the BMAC I begin to acknowledge the possibility that some things will not get done again this year. By Friday it will be a probability and by Sunday (maybe Monday if I am really optimistic) it will be a certainty. I acknowledge it, I do not accept it.

I got my postcard design finished and to a local printer yesterday so I should be able to send out postcards to galleries by Thursday and have enough left to hand out at the show. Postcards are good as they are big enough to show a lot of visual information and not be easily lost, and small enough not to get tossed aside for later which catalogs and sometimes even brochures are.

Yesterday I also chose the pictures I wanted blown up to 24X36 and got them to another printer. They have been run off and mounted on foamcore and are ready for me to pick up this morning.

The client that I am doing dinnerware for got his samples in the mail from Friday and picked his colors. I sent him the designs last night late and we are going to finalize today. Then I am going to get those pieces mingled into the firing schedule with the BMAC pieces and pieces for... The Art Institute of Chicago! They have requested a couple of pieces to evaluate for their catalog and need them right away. It is my Quest to be in the Chicago Art Institute catalog.

And speaking of catalogs, I need to finish mine today and Get It In The Mail for the galleries that requested it from my January Crafts Report ad. This is the second year in a row I have fallen down here. I like to advertise in the regional showcase of the Crafts Report, and my region comes out in January. I put in the ad "Catalog available on request". And I do have a catalog, but I change it every January to include the new designs and series I am doing and to remove things I no longer wish to do (e.g., my horrible but brief flirtation with slumped wine bottles... there are some things that leach the soul, and for me slumping wine bottles is one of those things). So there is always some lag between getting a request for a catalog and actually having a catalog to send. It just isn't possible to get it done in December. Maybe the solution is to move to another region.

So what does that leave to get done? Well, actual work for the BMAC would be nice. Finalization for the book contract and a signature on a dotted line. Oh yes and all that damn glass I still haven't unpacked which sat in its crates in the rain all day yesterday because the dog pulled the plastic cover off for a chew toy (big dogs, big chew toys. That's the dog at the top of the page. Not the dog that pulled the cover off the crates. No, that's the She Devil Dog's brother. But the She Devil Dog looks just like him).

Then there are a few little things that still need attention (business cards, all the printing for the show, counting and buying new lights, getting a hotel reservation for the show, getting the car tuned, etc.). But the biggest thing yet undone (untouched now for weeks now) is the website.

I have one sad little front page on my website which has never had any friends. I have been meaning to add friends for over a year now (at the bottom it has said, "The top navigation bar is a placeholder, but its pages will come live over coming weeks" since 2004. I am pathetic). I have a feeling that it is the website that is going to drop off again this year. I hope I am wrong and can pull it off. The optimist rises and goes off into her day to make coffee and rouse her Sprout.