So I’m making something really great– two decks of Art Cards that include images from the last 20+ years of my work.  And although it felt over and over like I was ALMOST THERE– that any minute I’d be ready to launch my fundraising campaign and print these cards– the road to making something is long and bumpy.  Then winding, and long.  And bumpy.

The good news is, I’m still on the road, and I’m making solid progress.  (Super cool things are happening, actually.)  The challenge is, I get to stay on the path when it’s taking longer and feels a lot harder than I expected.  For example, (good grief!!) creating a Kickstarter campaign is HARD.  I had a pretty big meltdown the day I made the spreadsheet to try to estimate costs of what I needed to fundraise, to be sure I included absolutely everything, from taxes to shipping costs– even though everything is also an estimate at the same time…  NOT what my brain is good at.  Bumpy!  But I’m doing it.

And although I haven’t talked about it very much, my amazing life parter, Hollin, has a genetic version of chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) that’s kept her in various states of illness and tiredness for five years now.  Yep, five years without stopping.  Long, long, and bumpy road.  This definitely impacts the way we navigate life and daily tasks, and it challenges my estimates on how much and how fast I can accomplish.  It’s been an incredible gift to learn to slow down and savor life with Hol!  But my production ethic is still Energizer Bunny while my actual possibilities are more contemplative and walking-speed.  So this year I’ve set the goal to start my campaign twice already, once by May and once by June… and again I need to reset the timeline to what’s real.  In fact, when I listen to the Spirit I get clear to let go of setting a date for a little while.  This feels really embarrassing to my “But I promised!” and “If I could just work harder” and “What will people think?” self!  But this feels honest and more possible to my spiritual and creative self.  SIGH.

So… I’m letting myself off the hook as best I can, and I’m still hard at work finishing the packaging details and the writing for the guide booklets that are going to be a real bonus to the project.  I even have a fantastic editor who will help me!  (Thanks, Christianne of Bookwifery!)  I’ll keep practicing remembering that all of this is taking just the right amount of its long and bumpy time.

And one more thing that’s a little bumpy but important– I can tell that I need to talk more about all this.  I’m rather shy when it comes to media stuff, and I can forget that it’s actually really cool to see the geeky process parts along the way to making something really great.  I mean, I’d totally want to see YOUR project stuff as you go, and hear about your stuck places and celebrations!!  So it’s my turn to take the dare and get out more pictures and tell more about the juicy moments, bumpy and awesome both.  Be prepared– I’ll probably start with a little video of the prototype tuck boxes that make me grin from ear to ear.  But don’t ask me to promise when I’ll post it…    Sometime after a little more long and bumpy.

Be well on your own winding roads, dear friends.

Storytelling Collage text:

“body halo of flames” –Denise Levertov

“(now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened)” — e.e. cummings

“anyone capable must want to save the world” — found poetry rearranged out of Rebecca Bagget’s text

“into the wilderness of your intuition” — from a magazine headline

“Storytelling” handwritten by Rebecca Landes, rescued out of the Magic Scrap Bin at Pendle Hill