Hurry Up and Wait

That seems to be my operating mode these days — hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. It is frustrating but also makes me realize that good things are happening.

I have several projects right now that are exciting but extensive involving many components. One of these is writing and designing the exhibition book for the North Shore Arts Association’s autumn exhibition The Past & The Present. This is a wonderful exhibition featuring art work by over 50 artists of the past who were early members of NSAA. The paintings I have seen so far are stunning — many of them are in private collections and have never been exhibited before or at least not in decades. When they asked me to write the accompanying book I was a little overwhelmed, what do I know about early Cape Ann art? But, of course, I know a lot. I forget that sometimes.

Getting The Old Mermaid's Tale to press is going much slower than I hoped for too. It has to be out by the end of May --- I have several book signings this summer. But nothing goes as quickly as you hoped for.

Mark’s book has taken off in a wonderful direction too but, there again, everything is both exciting and nothing certain yet. The book is being read by two very impressive names from Hollywood. I’m sworn to secrecy at the moment but I recognized both names and, considering I never go to movies, that is good. But, it is the same situation — very exciting or maybe not.

All of this is an experience in understanding that life is loaded with potential, things can happen — even if they don’t always happen on time or in a way that we would prefer that they occur. The important thing is that we stay aware that there is always another opportunity behind the one we are focused on at the moment.

Leslie called this morning. She is doing great and I am so impressed with the way she has begun to aggressively market her jewelry. She discovered a rich market among knitters and other fiber artists and has been absolutely amazing in her efforts to seek out new venues and design new ways of marketing her work. Part of this includes offering workshops which she has been doing at a number of fiber arts fairs around the country. It has opened up a whole new world of potential for her and her beautiful, beautiful jewelry.

My friend Michael is another creative entrepreneur. I’ve known Michael for over 25 years and we have been through a lot together. Some 20+ years ago he had a heart transplant while we were living in Texas and his survival has been extremely impressive and a credit to his good old Yankee grit and determination. As he was recovering he realized he had to find a new way to make a living and he has tried a lot of things mostly involving being a vendor of various products at fairs and festivals. His latest venture is wooden roses and I just helped him get his new web site up and running. He lives in Honolulu now and spends his summers in Maine. He never stops and I’m always inspired by his positive attitude and adaptability.

What I have learned, both from my own efforts as a writer and a designer, and from watching the people like Mark, Leslie, and Michael that I am lucky enough to have in my life, is that creative energy is limitless — you just have to stay open to it and do the best you can with what comes your way. And find new ways to encourage stuff to come your way, too. Some things work out, some don’t. Some things happen in a big hurry, some things take forever. But it is all worthwhile because, even if a venture doesn’t work out, you acquire skills you didn’t have before. There is an old story that Thomas Edison once said he learned a couple hundred ways not to make a light bulb before he learned how to make a light bulb.

Amen to that.

Thanks for reading.