A Small Survey on T-Shirts

I've been thinking a lot about my dream of starting a t-shirt business. So I thought maybe a little survey might be in order.

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No one told you when to run

So, still on tender hooks for that one job that may, or may not, be coming in. Sigh. With the added bonus that another client called me on my drive into work this morning. Sigh.

There are times the universe lets me know I should be writing. And then there is the majority of times just like this where I think the bastards are conspiring to both suck up my time and suck out my soul. I think I've mentioned before about how work/life/boll weevils get in the way. This is one of those times.

It's getting harder to not take this personally.

And it doesn't only just do this with writing. It does it with vacations, attempts to be along with myself/wife, needing to get an oil change, etc. And the more I do "time management" tricks the worse these outside interruptions get.

Sorry for the whining, but it's really getting me down. Add into the mix the gremlins screeching about "If I were really dedicated/really a writer, I would be...". I need a moment. Probably won't get it.

Object Lessons - Never Delay Payment

As a professional graphic design, I see a lot of people trying to pull a lot of stunts. I've seen my share of attempts to get design for free or at a very reduced level. I wish I could count the number of times I've heard the line, "We're just starting out/cash is tight now/I don't know how good your going to be(ie. this is your audition)... but there's a lot of work we'll need to be done soon/next year/down the road and we'll be able to pay much more/quicker/full freight for it."

To my nieces and nephews, you need to learn this lesson. This is a sucker punch, and they're trying to make you the sucker. This ploy is attempting to play to your greed, and it's being made by someone who believes you're just as greedy as they are (and they are very greedy). I can count on one hand the number of times this deal has actually turned into more work down the road. And that's if I include everybody I know. Unfortunately I would need a slide rule to come up with the times this has lead to either no payment at all or late payment.

Now, I have no problem doing some probono work. I have one job in right now. However, when it comes to this type of work, I do what I love, and I do it on my schedule. I have also done a lot of work for minimal pay, but I've gone into the job knowing this (however, I have been debating my policy of having a basic "job fee" and charging just that level for certain jobs and am thinking I'm going to a straight hourly rate/full quotes).

In this economy, never delay payment to you. Don't ever believe someone when they say they would like a hamburger today and gladly pay you next Tuesday. That is unless you're in the loan business or hold a great deal of leverage. When somebody offers to pay you a small sum now, in exchange for a large sum tomorrow, understand that the sun will not come out tomorrow. The person on the other side of the table has no intention of paying you more, or if they do will probably not be in that same position when the bill comes due. Chances are they're trying to play you for the sucker, will take your hard work and walk away.

In related news, Gov. Kasich's budget includes no money or mechanism to institute or cover merit pay for teachers. Same in Wisconsin. Same in Washington DC. Same in NYC.

No more speed, I'm almost there

Just wrapped up some freelance work. Yep. It's past midnight. Ah, the joys of freelance. On the plus side it's looking like I'm still damn good with estimating. Tomorrow I expect a lot of rushing around. Another job that's due tomorrow, and I haven't heard anything about it since I quoted. Sure, it'll only take an hour, but it's not like it's an hour from the time you say, "go." And I have to figure out how to get a 57 megabyte file to the client in time for him to have lasers made and drive to the end client. More joys of freelance.

Spent time in the meeting tonight multi-tasking by upgrading my resume on Monster and filling out all the forms properly. Sigh. I think I'm going to go with plain text resumes for internet connections. Word just screws up, and RTF has a habit of going martian. Plus, you know, you have my resume. Why do I have to then also say, "here is my work experience, here are my skills." Read the damn resume. Also, some of the words the form makers use, as Inigo Montoya said, "I donna think they mean what you think they mean."

Now I need to wind down and get some sleep.

So, anything new on teh inetnets?

Friday Extras

Because Camille asks. Another jpg of the card.

Also, Flash Fiction Online sends word they're passing on Prince Wanted. So this weekend I'll be doing the submission rounds again. There's a bunch of older submissions still hanging out there. I'll also need to dig up dates and maybe send a query letter or two.

Pretending like I know what all these little flashing lights mean

I've been toying with this for almost a year, but with the extra incentive, I've just sent it off to be printed. Again, sometimes I can stun myself with my design. Here, let me stun you. My business card.

Something like productive

Today's day off proved to be productive, but not in the way I wanted it.

Things accomplished:
1) returned lost cat to owner
It had been wandering around for the past three weeks
2) replaced (upgraded) light fixture in laundry room
Hint, turn on light, then throw breaker to make sure you have the correct breaker off (zapped twice)
3) met with client to go over letter and mailing
Trying to save client money, he's done things for us so $.50 per letter just ain't cutting it.
4) dropped off Village laptop for upgrade
It's a Windows machine, I hardly use it except for official business
5) Freed wood rack from being frozen to the ground
One day that was semi warm caused it to tip over, and then the ground froze again, I didn't restack the wood yet
6) post blog entry explaining why my word count is off today
You're reading it.

Things not accomplished:
1) word count
At least not yet
2) replace electrical plug in kitchen
Haven't had a moment where I can have the electric off (half the house)
edit 6pm Installed. Now our appliance plugs won't keep dropping out. Was really annoying.
3) Get quote from copy cop
To get cost down for client (hell, I might just print it off)
edit 6pm WTF, FedEx and Copy Max (Imcopy or some weird name like that) don't publish their prices. Oh, but they'll accept your work and then give you a price. Bzzzt. Thanks for playing.
4) Turn five 2x4x8's into extra wood rack
We've got a lot of wood to stack
5) Procrastinate by checking and commenting on friends blogs
I'm getting to it

Hope your day was more productive.

Well, that took way too long

OMG! It's time to go to bed, and I spent the night doing quotes for a client (no, not impressions, although I do some good ones, I mean "I can do this work for you for this much" kinds of quotes). Except for their letter they needed written, I didn't write anything else this evening (unless you count the typing in the quote numbers for presentation). OMG! I'm doomed. I needed to get Chapter 2 in shape and work more in Chapter 3, plus more notes for the synopsis.

Bad writer, no klondike bar.

Tomorrow comes early, and I hauled like 15 wheelbarrows full of wood back to the pile, plus the full day of work and playing with the kittens. Damn it.

Turn and face the strain

Well, time has come today as the other song says. Tonight while talking with a design client he asked me for business cards to hand out. While he didn't exactly state it, I think many of his "competitors" are jealous of his brochure (or at least that was the gist of the conversation). Now, I did do a bang-up job on his trifold, and I'm commensurately proud of it.

But last year I did make the decision to cut back on the freelance design to spend time writing. This was before overtime went all sucky and I was charged with being Chairman of Safety which soaked up that freed time. I still kept some clients, work I like doing, not that's necessarily good money makers. This would be good money. And my plans to spend more time writing didn't exactly pan out.

So now comes the decision to change directions and get even more hectic, hope to change out chairmanships, maybe get more overtime (probably not until middle of next year) and see if I go back to also writing. Or, I could soak up even more precious time but get paid well for it (instead of writing on what is basically spec).

Success, sometimes it's a frightening thing. I still want to write, but that lure of money for doing something I still love for people who actually have money. And this client's clients aren't hurting either, so if they're asking as well, even better.

Argh. It could drive one mad.

I scare myself

Yes, sometimes doing design work things just come together. So I share with you my latest in freelance (and in this case, it's very free, but that also means I get to do what I want).

The Grand Valley Ruritans Halloween Party Poster

Delicate Sound of Thunder

Work work work. Hint to all those who freelance, ask for a good price up front. I've found that the most egregious use of changes and revisions come when the price is too low. For the freelance work I think I'm really close to minimum wage now with the edits. Wasn't to far ahead of it to begin with.

Last night I did get some words out. I went through "A History of Lightning" and firmed up the copy. I connected a few pieces and amplified the language. Went on a furious hunt for "was", routing it out from deep in paragraphs and rewriting the sentences to make sure it would never come back in.

I think I have two more transitions to complete and it'll be at draft v1.1. I think my going through the earlier copy constituted a rewrite of what I had. Currently it's 3463 words. I have a feeling well end up in the 4500 word range.

Went to be very late last night, and couldn't sleep in too long this morning. So I'm back at it. Hope your Sunday is going to be productive too.