Working Together - Are we a match?

No two creative endeavors are alike, so there's no formula for how I work with clients. It all starts with a cup of tea. This is to say, it starts with a FREE conversation to see where you are with your project and if we're a good match.

It's easy to talk about creative projects. It's easy to think about them for a long time. Sometimes it's easy to start them with a brilliant flourish. But it can be a real challenge to bring them to completion. Helping you do that – from honing your vision to implementing the finest details – that is my specialty.

So, if you're feeling like it's time to turn up the flame on an idea you've had for years, or you need to pick a door in that long corridor of possibilities, or you have something that's been 80% finished for too long – drop me a line.

Or you can start by looking at 3 areas that apply to just about any creative project:

CLARIFY

This may seem obvious, but sometimes the biggest stumbling block can come from thinking you know what you want to create when, strangely, your imagined end product and what you really want can be at odds. Or the subject you are communicating may simply lend itself to a different form.

Two examples: I had a meeting with someone recently who was struggling with a book project. She was convinced she had some kind of writer's block. By the time we were finished with our tea, it had turned into a deck of cards – and now she has a publishing contract for it.

One client, after an hour together, realized she could save herself a big headache and a lot of cash by having people contact her personally via her website (that we had just made together) to buy prints of her artwork, rather than setting up an online store. A store is easy to create. That wasn't the issue. But once she looked more deeply, she realized she preferred to have no need for inventory and more ability to customize orders and get to know her buyers. The art is personal to her. She wanted to guide each piece to an excellent landing and this was more important, for now, than volume.

Questions for this phase are:

- What do you want to create? A book idea might be well-served by starting a blog to engage an audience, which can then enrich content for the book. Articles can turn into book proposals. One book can evolve into a multi-volume series. And sometimes the powerful intimacy of audio is best – podcasts!

- Who is it for? You might be very clear that you want to reach a specific audience. Or you might be one of those people (like me) who is just driven to create stuff to stay sane. No judgment. But once you hone in on who you most want to reach and how to reach them, you'll likely be much more effective and have more fun in the process.

- What are your resources? Another way to look at this question is: What parts of your project do you have the most confidence in? What gives you the most joy?

- What are you lacking? Do you have the whole story in your head, but you need someone who can write it? Do you have a finished piece, but you need to get it out there via a website, online store, or book agents and publishers? Do you want to self-publish and guide the design of your book, but need someone who can work with you in InDesign (and all those other great Adobe tools)?

side note: There need not be a drop of shame in self-publishing. It's the most perfect solution for certain projects. Personally, I've had some of my greatest fulfillment from the works created for Chrysanthemum Books. 108 volumes (x2) sold in 14 countries to readers who cherished them. Given the appreciation they expressed (and the price of each volume), it seems unlikely that any will end up forgotten on a bus.

Another way to look at this question is: What parts of the production process make you tired or muddled as soon as you think about them? It can be good to farm those out. But it's also good to have someone by your side who can keep you empowered in the process.

MAP IT OUT

Once you're clear(er) about what you want, the next step is to map out what you need to do to reach completion. But creative projects aren't always perfectly linear, to say the least. Outlines can be your friend (especially for creations that involve lots of writing), but so can chucking your original outline, taking out a big drawing pad, and writing out your story in a circle or a square to break through the linearity, open it up, and look at it in a fresh way.

Other parts of mapping it out are just basic, real world stuff: a budget, a timeline, who is it going to take to complete this? Which parts do you want to do (or try to do) by yourself? What do you know you need help with? Do you like to work mostly solo and send things back and forth? Or do you prefer active collaboration, brainstorming, and designing together on the spot? Or do you need both?

MAKE IT HAPPEN

This is the fun part. Or, at least, it should be, if you're on the right track. If you are synched up with yourself about what you want to do and how you want to do it, making it happen should mostly be a joy ride. Of course, there's a lot of sweat that goes into bringing a project to completion, but when you're on track, it's the best kind of sweat – cleansing, invigorating, leading to a glow of fulfillment.

But unless:

- you know every part of what you need to do and

- you are incredibly self-disciplined and

- you can easily stay in touch with your creative fire as you manage all the pieces of your project,

you might need some help. That's why I'm here.

So, contact me if you'd like to have that cup of tea and we'll see if I can help you get started, get going, and get to the finish.

My skills include:

• Writing, editing

• Creative Direction

• Communications

• Audio/Video editing

• Website content design and creation

• Bookbinding

• Brainstorming, planning, and implementation for all kinds of creative projects

• Adobe tools