Sometimes I daydream and wonder what it would be like to just make art and write full time. It's probably not something that will ever be possible. Even when the etsy shop was bringing in a lot of income selling vintage and paper goods, I was still quite a ways off from quitting my day job. The press is way to small, even in good years. Breaking even is possible, but a profit or a wage is something that seems less likely even having given up the higher overhead with the studio. I make enough to keep us in envelopes and printing supplies, and hope to one day pay some sort of royalties out, but this pandemic year has slowed that roll a bit.
There are other things I might be able to maximize--critiques, paid workshops, writer services like publicity and design, but while still working full time, these are hard to devote sufficient time to get them rolling enough to be a steady income generator. Ditto on maximizing visual art exploits for profit. But still I wonder and watch enviously the lives of people who get to spend their days tending to the things that are a little more creative than day job drudgery (and I say that knowing that I am fortunate that I get to be a little more creative with my day job pursuits that many. Or maybe there is still a bit of drudgery, but also some fun.)
With my longer weekends officially in effect, I am planning on devoting a much needed entire day to writing-related things each week, something I rarely get, and if I do, it's usually gobbled up by other things that need tending. Even weekends lately have been devoted to either cleaning, organizing, or press work. So much I get accomplished creatively happens in a chaos of bits and starts and not really with a plan or intention. Today, I got a late start as usual when left to my own devices, but after getting up and making a largeish breakfast and ample coffee I settled into the day with actually writing something new for the bird artist. I've taken a break from my morning writing routine the past couple weeks to refresh and think more about the series and how to wrap it up. I am still waffling over what may be next in terms of projects. I'm mid-research on a series loosely about Hollywood starlets, plus there are other things began, but not finished. Plus a notebook filled with potential things that may or may not shake out.
Writing, of course, has been the one thing I have been able to do the past year, so there is also a lot of rough material to be revisited and possibly revised (and maybe even submitted.) Lately I've been torn between sharing some new work on social media (mostly instagram) and sending it to see how it fares in the submission wilds. I ultimately decided to share the plague letter pieces there since I am sure journal eds are sick to death of pandemic poems, and though these are not solely that, their title gives them away. (Some did make it into our Artist in Res. at the Library awesome zine project by invitation though, so check those out.) Keep an eye out on instagram for the rest.
After I finished the day's writing, I turned my attention to some website navigational tweaks that I'd been meaning to get to for awhile and just didn't have time, one of the things where updates fall through the cracks more than not if its something that involves a bit more sustained effort. There is still a bit more to do, but if I break it up and work on it weekly, it will be easier to manage in small bits and not one fell swoop. The rest of the day I intend to devote to editing the unusual creatures letters and getting them ready for the June zine offering. I've gone back and forth on format, but at this point am leaning towards a box or sheaf of letters, an accordian book of images, and bits of ephemera in an addition of about 25. Since it's a little more complicated, I probably won't do an e-version straight off, but maybe eventually. (I am plotting my lunarium project, which was also a box, in some sort of electronic version though, so watch for that later this year.)
Later, I'll make dinner and maybe play with the dark country manuscript, which I want to have publication ready by the end of this month if possible since the layout will be what's on tap for June, as well as preliminary bits of promotion like a trailer of some sort. Somehow I can get several rounds of proofing in and still find typos I've missed in other pass throughs. It helps to print things out instead of working on screen which seems especially apt for misreadings.
All in all, a productive Monday in which I feel a little more focused and hopefully more will follow...
