Looking forward to 2013

2013 Long Term Goals

I find that keeping track of my goals here on the blog to be quite useful: although most time it’s to help keep me organized, but I know that the fact that I make these goals public adds a certain amount of  accountability to them as well.

My Word for 2013

Balance

Last year another aspect of my artistic endeavors really exploded (the online classes) and it helped me clarify a lot of things. I backed off a bit on the number of shows I did last year, and I think that was about right. I love interacting with folks at the shows, and I do find inspiration when making for them, but if I realized last year that making is not the sole way I want to create.

Working on “teaching”, whether it’s creating my online classes, in person, or writing articles, takes a LOT of time. So I’ve realized that “Balance” is what I need to seek this year.

I’ve tried to envision how I could achieve balance in a concrete way and set up some “inclinations”; I’ve never been a fan of resolutions, they set me up for failure. But “inclinations” help me focus without all the baggage that comes along with resolutions.

My Inclinations for 2012

Create more Art!

Teach other folks!

If you don’t like to do it…DON’T DO IT!

Long Term Artistic Goals

1. Continue to work more in 3 dimensions.
2. Explore the shape/idea of house/home.
3. Continue to work with restricted color palettes.
4. Work on creating pieces that focus on a particular botanical type.
5. Work with new fabric textures.
6. Make things just for FUN!

Long Term Business Goals

1. Keep on keepin’ on in the money generation department. Try very hard not to get hung up on the bottom line, but remember that contributing to the family coffers can bring joy and relief to all four of us. Do NOT get depressed if this years doesn’t live up to last year. (This will be very hard for me)
2. Launch 3 more online classes.
3. More in person teaching gigs

Long Term Online Goals

1. I’m in this for the long haul…so not having a blog post every single business day is NOT the end of the world! Although I’m not going to set anything concrete, I realize that with my need for balance, my blogging may decrease a bit.
2. Pinterest: figure it out
3. Don’t get too hung up on stats. If you blog it, they will come! 😉

Pie in the Sky Goals

1. Continue submitting to magazines!
2. I’ve got a couple more submission types I’m gonna not share here, but I need to be working towards these.

So, these long term items have been a long time brewing. Now, to get down to brass tacks and see what I can do this month.

December Goals

I just barely got all the Christmas presents I wanted to make done. I haven’t shared them all with you yet, but the pix are there. Once this huge goals post is published I can finish up showing you! I had some more making that I wanted to do over vacation, but I did a lot more hanging out with my guys instead. Because that balance I’m seeking means that I need to pay attention to them. Unbelievably, Liam is halfway through sophomore year in HS. As I see college on the horizon, I realize that we don’t have a heckuva lot of time left for movie nights and fun little excursions, so I’ve got to make more of those happen!

January Goals

I’m already 10 days into January, and I started in on these new goals before writing this post! But I almost forgot about the Daisy Janie block hop, YIKES!, a perfect example of how these lists are so useful for me!

OK, enough on the goals…it’s time to make them happen!