It's ALL about Time

I'm taking the period between January 1st and the start of the Year of the Rabbit, January 22nd to think about what I want to happen in the coming year and what I need to do to make it happen. As I was making my lists for all the facets of my life I realized that all this list making was an exercise in futility. If I didn't get a handle on my time, nothing would change from this year to the next.

Now I've never been good with time. My priority was based on If I don't do it now: 

• Is it a matter of life or death?

• Will I cause pain or suffering?

• Is it commissioned work?

• Does it have a hard deadline?

• Will it effect me/us financially?

Everything else could go to the back of the line and be taken care of in due time. For the longest time this system sort of worked at least until the Pandemic hit mid-March 2020. I don't know about you but since then I've been plagued by a case of bad timing probably caused by too many pajama days sprinkled with too many days of uncertainty. So the last 3 years, I felt like I've been running around putting out fires. Still, I'm happy to report that the only thing I killed was a houseplant or two.

While last year was definitely better as I seemed to gain some of my old speed back with creative and commissioned work, everything else was like slogging through molasses. Weeks speeded up as my to do list piled on. So what do I plan on doing differently now that I've decided to be serious about my time management problem? For starters, I've decided to log my time. This way I can see how long a task actually takes as well as where I'm wasting it. 

So far I've discovered (been doing this for a week):

1 - The weekly bills, a task I hate and dread and stress over and would always procrastinate before actually beginning, only takes an hour. Only one hour. Meanwhile I killed 2 hours not doing it. 

2 - I can cram a lot of creative work into the last hour of the day because I suddenly realize that if I don't start it now it will be another day that I'm mad at myself for not getting to it.

3 - Keeping track of my time helps me to use my time more intentionally.

4 - I will still have days where I'm totally off.

They say it takes 90 days for something to become a habit. I'm taking it 1 month at a time.

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Looking forward to 2016

Winter Raccoon
© Diana Ting Delosh
ink watercolor digital

Here's to 2016 and all the hopes and promises of a shiny New Year. 

Wishing All a Happy and Creatively Productive, Prolific and Prosperous New Year

As for me I have my 2016 planner and my lists of things I hope to accomplish and how I plan to do it.  The how, I feel is actually more important than the end game. I could say I want to have picture book contract with a major traditional publisher in 2016. However it would be unrealistic as there are quite a few factors out of my control. I'm much better having as goals: 

• a few picture book dummies and /or manuscripts that have gone through the vetting process of my trusted illustrator crit group and/or my writer's group. One of my resolutions is to only submit my best. Which is why I really need the eyes and ears of my beta readers.

• Making a list of publishers/agents/editors that I feel would be most receptive to my projects.

• Submitting to the above. 

• Working on multiple projects/proposals at a time as I can't afford to put all my eggs in 1 basket.

• Revamping my website/portfolio dianadelosh.com so that it's as enticing as possible.

Instead of a "where I want to be by the end of the year" dream list. I'm making a list of specific projects and tasks that are steps towards my dreams and hopes for 2016.

A List and a Mind Shift

Being a freelance illustrator, or as I prefer an independent illustrator, means life doesn't always hum along smoothly. In fact it usually means life moves at a herky jerky pace. Somedays you're rushing to meet deadlines. Other days you're wearing a hole in the rug with your pacing as you wait for art directors & buyers to make a decision on your art. Then there are the lulls between jobs when you're waiting, just waiting for something to happen, checking your e-mail, phone, twitter feed anything. And yes, I believe this kind of waiting is the worst.

In a perfect world, life as an illustrator would hum along, full of wonderful, creative, well paying dream assignments, projects. And of course all your clients would give you due dates that gave you ample time and your art would be rubber stamped OK. But real life sucks. And I bet all your  deadlines, like mine, seem to clump together on the same days no matter how hard you try to schedule them. Which means you're waiting to hear back from everyone at the same time...always. In between those mad rush periods there are stretches of nothingness.

So what's the trick to keep yourself from getting too nutty?  I mean after you've gotten bored with walking in circles and starring at your in-box what's next. May I suggest a list and a mind shift?

I keep a list of back burner projects. These could be anything from messing with my new color pencils, participating in a group art challenge, to working on a picture book dummy. A trick I learned as a mom was that big projects can be broken down to it's smallest components. Keep working those small bits and eventually that picture book dummy gets done.

Now for the mind shift. Think of yourself as an Independent Creative. Freelance Artist, Independent Artist, don't they mean the same thing? Yes. Perhaps. But here's the implied difference as a freelance artist your'e looking for freelance work or looking to be hired, commissioned, assigned. You work as a freelancer. In other words looking and waiting for someone to say yes. However as an independent artist you may be looking for freelance work BUT you are also coming up with your own projects perhaps even self-publishing. You are no longer just waiting for someone to give you a project. You can come up with your own. Granted you may still be submitting that project and waiting for approval or putting it out there yourself and waiting for sales. Unfortunately the waiting part can't be helped.

So Diana, you say, noticed that your website says: Diana Ting Delosh is an illustrator/author. She creates whimsical and elegant art, independently and by assignment. Why aren't you calling yourself an independent... Well for awhile I did, but then I kept getting queries about whether I took on freelance assignments. Duh!