Let The Festivities Begin!

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This week my desk has been all about Christmas! I popped my fairy lights on and put Arthur Christmas on Netflix to get me in the mood and got started on the first of my Christmas cards. The four designs below will be in my Etsy shop and on Choosey.com late next week. There are two more designs to come, plus a little collection of Christmas stocking fillers that I am working on. I also used it as a good excuse to have my first mince pie of the season. Let the festivities begin!

Happy Fourth Birthday And So We Begin!

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I started my little business four years ago today on what would have been my nana's 100th birthday so I'm celebrating this morning with cake for breakfast! I like the fact that my nana is part of my company's story as she inspired me with kindness and creativity. She used to potter endlessly in her garden and would talk to us about the plants. If she wasn't gardening, she was baking delicious shortbread and cakes or knitting us cardigans and leg warmers or letting us play our new 7" singles on her old Dansette record player. I remember making pom poms with her and thinking it was some kind of magic that you could make this fluffy ball out of a piece of wool. And I remember sitting in the kitchen while she listened to the Archers and being told firmly to 'shush'!

Today, I find my company somewhere I didn't know it would be. My love for illustration has grown and grown over the last two years and while I still work in event management by day and write whenever the feeling grabs me, every spare moment I have is consumed by drawing. I am never without my sketchbook and have an ever growing collection of sketches for pretty little products that I am working on bringing to my shop.

I sometimes stop for a moment and wonder how I got here. It's like illustration has come out of the blue and said, "Pick me!" I find it meditative in such a good way. For me it's an antidote to the speeding world and has given me somewhere totally joyful to 'go' when I need to retreat.

As I wrote a few blog posts ago, I thought a lot about what I want my brand to be. I settled on warm, kind and cosy. I want my products and The Quiet Life blog to give people the same feeling I get when I'm drawing. One of complete contentment (often accompanied by cake). 

Sending Out My First Etsy Orders

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It sounds daft but once your Etsy shop is alive and kicking, it somehow comes as a surprise when buyers actually start to order things from you. After spending so much time and care creating something behind closed doors, it feels like such a compliment that someone likes your products enough to buy them. It's lovely to earn a few pennies but it's so much more than that. Creating for me is about sharing a little bit of myself, it's making something tangible that expresses a part of myself and it's so nice when someone connects with that.

To manage expectations and to allow me to prioritise and schedule my time, I state on my Etsy shop that I send orders out on Fridays and Saturdays. So yesterday, I found myself wrapping up the first ones. Each with a candy stripe paper bag, And So We Begin sticker and a personalised message. I love thinking about someone receiving something lovely in their letterbox rather than a bill and then sending their cards out and sharing that love with someone else. It's so simple but makes me very happy indeed.

Etsy Photoshoot

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As an independent you really do find yourself having to be a jack of all trades sometimes. Setting up an Etsy shop is really satisfying and also takes several skills. After creating your products the next step is to make sure they all look super tempting to your potential buyers by putting your photography skills to the test.

Here are my top four tips for good product photos for your Etsy shop.

1. Take photos in natural light.
I have a real aversion to flash photography as it makes things look slightly unreal and over-exposed. Position your products near a window and make sure there aren't any unsightly shadows. If it's a bit of a dull day, you can always brighten your images up in Photoshop or a photo app before uploading.

2. Ensure you have a white background.
A clean, clear background will help to show your products at their best. I faked my white surface by using white card as a base underneath my products. Limit clutter and ensure the product is the focus of the image.

3. Use props.
I think it's quite fun to take photos of products in an environment so that buyers can see them in context. I look for pictures like this when I buy products on Etsy as I feel it puts them in context and sells a 'feeling' as well as the design to the buyer. I wanted my greetings cards to look cosy, fun and warm so I added sparkly stars, cake, party poppers and candles to my pictures. You can see all of my finished pictures on my Etsy shop!

4. Show your packaging.
I love the small details that Etsy buyers add to their products. Many add a personal card, a sticker or pack their products in tissue paper or a pretty bag. I like to show my packaging in my photos as I hope it shows that I really care about every single order and every single buyer.

I hope that you find these points helpful. Have a browse around my shop and let me know what you think!

I'm also taking part in the #inktober challenge on Twitter by drawing black and white ink illustrations. My Etsy photoshoot gave me great inspiration today (and was also a great excuse to eat all of the leftover cake!)

Building A Website With Squarespace

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Welcome to my new website! I've been spending the last couple of weeks having a virtual declutter and spruce and I really hope you like the new look.

I've really enjoyed using Squarespace for my site refresh. I've noticed their logo at the bottom of a few sites I've liked so I spent some time browsing through their templates and watching the Getting Started video. I wanted something that was really easy to use, clean cut and flexible and they really fit the bill.

I know that the idea of building a website can be quite intimidating and I have to confess I do have some experience of building websites from a previous job but I think that a complete beginner would find Squarespace easy to use. Their whole premise is built around using blocks. You can add pages, blog posts, forms, images and galleries really easily at the touch of a button and there's a style editor that means changing fonts and style elements across your site is super easy. I think the best way to overcome any fear about trying is to have a go. Squarespace offer a free trial so if you are hoping to start your own web presence, have a go!

Here are five things I enjoyed about using Squarespace.

1. It's cheap and cost effective at only $12 a month for a personal site when you pay annually.

2. You can use your own domain name by asking your host (or domain parking service) to help you to redirect it.

3. The look is really clean cut and you can incorporate images really easily. If it's helpful to know, I'm using the Native template.

4. You can integrate a shop into your site. I'm working on this at the moment but it appears to be really simple. I've had an Etsy shop up until now but am looking forward to having a shop within my own site.

5. It's super flexible and because of this, it's easy to keep updating things to keep your site fresh. This is a really great when you are a small (i.e. one person!) business and doing everything yourself.

A Parcel From The Printer

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Today was an exciting day as the first batch of greetings cards for my Etsy shop arrived from the printer. Whenever I open a box of new products that I've created I feel like George McFly when he opens his box of books in Back To The Future. It's so fun seeing something you've put so much time and effort into come to life.

I've used a variety of printers in the past and this time I used Printed.com. I wanted an uncoated matte finish with Kraft style envelopes and flexibility to use my own designs on the front and the back. Printed.com offered all of these things and I'm really happy with the results.

If you are sending some of your own designs off to print for the first time, here are my top five things to think about.

1. File type
Make sure you save your files exactly as the printer needs them. Each print service details their requirements on their site. Most will be happy with 300dpi jpgs or pdfs. If you've got any questions or concerns, contact the printer before you commit to your order.

2. Colour profile
Ensure your print files are saved as CMYK so that the colours are true to your design. I am not an expert so check this with your printer first but I have only come across one printer who preferred RGB colour settings. As I understand it, if your file is RGB you should never simply re-save as CMYK as this will upset the colour balance.

3. Bleed
Printers will advise what bleed they require at the edge of your files. This is essentially a bit of extra space around the file to allow the finished product to be trimmed therefore allowing the colour to print right to the edge.

4. Card type
I've tried a few different card types in my last couple of print runs of greetings cards. Some printers offer 'Trucard' which is said to be specifically for cards. It has a silky finish on the outside and is uncoated inside (for easy writing). However, I find it a bit too pristine and prefer the more simple and basic finish of uncoated card. If you're not sure, ask for some samples before committing to your order.

5. Envelopes
Check if your printer can provide envelopes and if so what colours and textures are available. Envelopes are part of your product and help to the set the tone of your brand. I've chosen brown 'kraft' envelopes as I wanted to add a cosy, homely feel to my cards.

My next step is to set up a photoshoot for my cards to show them off in my Etsy shop. I'll write another blog post about this soon!

Mini Art Prints

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I'm trying out a new product in my Etsy shop this Autumn and have ordered some A5 prints that will be available very soon. I've created four designs which will be printed on 300gsm recycled white card. I'm really excited to see how they look when they get back from the printers. I'd love to hear your thoughts about the illustrations. Let me know which one you like best!

And So We Begin on Choosey.com

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I'm so excited and pleased to have been approached by Choosey.com to design some greetings cards for them. My first batch of designs will be live on the site within the next two weeks with lots more being added soon. Choosey launched in February this year and allows you to send cards directly from the site across the miles. Excitingly and uniquely, Choosey also lets you add a video to your card to send an extra little bit of you to your friends and family.

Here's a peek at my first designs and I'll update you here when my designs are live!

Paper Goods & Pretty Things

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In the past six months, while being wrapped up in freelance event work, I have been giving a lot of thought to the direction I want to go in with And So We Begin. In 2012, I started out wanting to tell stories and although writing will always be my first love, drawing and illustration have sneaked up on me, like an unexpected gift.

When I started drawing in 2014, I decided to share pretty much everything I created on social media. I didn't quite understand this decision at the time and I thought it was to do with wanting to take away the fear of being judged. I've since realised it's much more about wanting to share something that I love so much. Drawing to me is light and fun, challenging and absorbing, meditative and so, SO enjoyable. When I am lost in a drawing I feel cosy and warm. I wanted to somehow share this feeling with other people.

As part of my thought process, I visited PaperFest at Top Drawer London last week. I saw several talks, two of which made a real impression on me. The first was by Audrey Woollen from Urbanic who spoke about her passion for her company even after ten years of trading. She explained how she loves to bring a little joy to the every day and how she really enjoys the one to one interactions with her customers. Her genuine love for what she does really moved me.

Secondly, was The Brand Stylist, Fiona Humberstone who spoke about creating your brand. What seemed like practical advice was again underpinned with genuine passion and care. Fiona advises that you write down ten words that describe your vision of your brand and then narrow this list down to three words. I did this exercise and found it really hard to keep the initial list to ten. Then narrowing these down was even harder. Eventually I settled for warm, calm and kind.

Another idea I've been reading a lot about lately is the Danish concept of hygge. Hygge is not simply feeling cosy, it's simplicity, being with loved ones, warmth, indulgence and kindness. I really want And So We Begin to feel all of these things.

There's one illustration from my childhood that has stayed with me. It's this image from The Story Of Father Christmas by Ann & Dennis Mallett. This book, and this picture in particular, made me feel like everything was ok. To me, it embodies hygge, with it's candles, camaraderie and cosiness.

I would love every card, print and gift from And So We Begin to give you the same feeling of warmth, calm and kindness. Who doesn't love a lovely piece of snail mail appearing in their letterbox in amongst the bills and sales pitches? Something that says someone has thought of you in the middle of their busy day and puts a smile on your face.

I really hope you enjoy my new ideas. Please get in touch via my contact form if you have any comments or suggestions. I'd love to hear from you.  

Little Bit Of Pretty

And So We Begin has been on a short hiatus while my freelance events work has been busy bees and all of my energy has been taken up with spreadsheets and short haul flights. While my day job takes up the physical hours of my day, my mind is quietly ticking away as always, planning creative projects. Behind the scenes, I'm working on lots of designs for my Etsy shop, practicing drawing nearly every day, sending my children's novel and script off to agents, plotting out a new novel and making plans for Angel's Great Escape for this Christmas. More on all of those things soon!

Meanwhile, I have found a small way to spark my creative mind and to ensure that however much I am consumed by logistics and planning, I am always looking out for the magic in the everyday. And so, I started a hashtag #littlebitofpretty. I use it on my Twitter and Instagram posts when I see something that makes me smile. This could be a little splash of colour, some yummy food or just the heart-shaped finish to my morning latte. Have a look for #littlebitofpretty on social media and why not use it yourself as a simple way to brighten your day. I'll look out for your posts : )

New Review: Read It Daddy

What a lovely Christmas treat! Angel's Great Escape was featured on the super-popular Read It Daddy website this week as part of their annual Booky Advent. We're featured alongside such classics as A Christmas Carol and The Night Before Christmas and this week we've found ourselves second only to Stick Man in the What's Hot list which is making me feel very happy and Christmassy : )

We would like to thank Read It Daddy for their kind and continuing support and to wish them a very Merry Christmas!

Creative Challenge: Illo Advent 2015

I've been loving taking part in #illo_advent over on Twitter. It's a daily drawing challenge where you create something Christmassy from 1st - 25th December and it's great to get you in the Christmas mood! I also really like it as it 'makes' me draw something everyday and is helping me to come up with ideas and to practise. Please click through the slide show below to have a look at a few of my drawings so far.

Spotlight: Angel's Great Escape Narrator - David McMullan

With the launch of Angel's Great Escape on Me Books, I thought it was about time we put the spotlight on our fabulous new narrator, David McMullan.

David has a glittering, showbiz story to tell starting at Bird College where he graduated with a BA (Hons) in Dance and Theatre Performance. After graduating he packed his bags and headed to New York to train at the Broadway Dance Centre and other leading dance studios in Manhattan.

David was then drawn back to the bright lights of London where he has starred in legendary West End musicals such as Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre), Hairspray (Shaftesbury Theatre, as understudy for leading man Link Larkin) and more recently Book Of Mormon (Prince of Wales Theatre). David has also danced and sung his way around productions of Love Never Dies, Ragtime, She Stoops to Conquer, Rent, Lend Me a Tenor, Cinderella, Aladdin and Peter Pan to name but a few!

Rather excitingly, in 2013, David worked with Sam Mendes during the creative process for the original West End production of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory as rehearsal stand-in for Charlie.

In amongst the showbiz shenanigans, David has also found time to develop his one-man musical comedy show Boy Meets World performed at Lauderdale House. And he is also one half of new comedy duo 'Dickie & Dave' who premiered their first sketch comedy, Tea For Two, at the Brighton Fringe Festival in 2013.

I've been lucky enough to have known David for a few years now and he's already been involved in table reads that me and my comedy-script-writing-partner have held. He's always been great at throwing himself into character and doing a whole range of accents. With such glittering credentials, I was over the moon when he agreed to narrate and provide character voices for Angel's Great Escape. We had such a ball during the recording. David was brilliantly enthusiastic about each and every one of the SEVENTEEN (!) character voices and he's really brought the story to life in a whole different way.

I really hope that you'll download the Me Books app and buy Angel's Great Escape not only as a lovely Christmas treat but also to hear how fantastically David can go from being a grumpy old Mr Mean to a cosy Teddy decoration to a jolly Father Christmas (see below)!

If you're interested in David helping you with your voiceover or narration project, please get in touch via hello@andsowebegin.co.uk!

Angel's Great Escape Live On Me Books

There's much excitement at And So We Begin central today as Angel's Great Escape, written by Kirstie Rowson and illustrated by Kristyna Litten, is now live on Me Books! We are very proud to feature alongside such classics as The Snowman and the Snowdog, Charlie and Lola and Peter Rabbit!

Me Books is an independent eBookshop for children aged 2-10 where you can buy all your favourite books, comics and bedtime stories via one award-winning app, all with fantastic read-along narration. You can also record your own narration and sound effects to create a truly personal library on your phone or tablet.

The Me Books version of Angel's Great Escape includes not only brilliant narration by David McMullan but he also voices all SEVENTEEN (count them!) characters. Hear Mr Mean grumbling, Mr Good spreading Christmas cheer, Angel encouraging her friends, the decorations as they dash through the snow and even Father Christmas enjoying a mince pie!

Here's just one small example from the little Teddy decoration from the story. Download the Me Books app and buy Angel's Great Escape to hear lots more!

Top Ten!

Excitement levels were at an all time high last week when Angel's Great Escape: A Christmas Story debuted at *NUMBER 7* on the iBooks Kids Book chart.

The iBooks chart is something of a mystery as it's not simply based on sales but rather seems to be linked to a number of factors such as how much your book is viewed and linked to. This makes it quite an exciting challenge to see where the book features and how much blog posts and social media can help.

Being *seen* is very important in the sea of books and media out there so being in the top 10, even briefly (!), is fantastic. And seeing Angel rubbing shoulders with Roald Dahl, R J Palacio and Jeff Kinney made me feel really proud of what me and my fabulous, little, independent team have achieved!

Recording The Narration For Angel's Great Escape

I've been very busy squirrelled away getting the Angel's Great Escape ebook ready for this Christmas and I'm excited to say it's now been submitted for review to both iBooks and Amazon. I'm very pleased to announce that the book is also going to be published in the first week of December on Me Books, an independent eBookshop app for children aged 2-10 where you can buy books, comics and bedtime stories for your little ones.

Kindle doesn't yet support read along narration but the iBooks version of the story will have highlighted text read by our new narrator David McMullan, an experienced theatre actor who has starred in shows such as Hairspray and Mary Poppins in the West End. I can't wait for everyone to hear his fabulous narration. Excitingly Me Books will not only have David's narration but you will also be able to tap every character to hear them speak (in David's seventeen different character voices)!

We had a really fun day recording the narration with lots of tea and chocolate digestives. We recorded the full story about four times as this allowed David's voice to warm up and to get used to the rhythm of the text. We then talked in detail about the character voices, discussing the accents they would have and how they would speak. I had written the 'asides' for each character and David read them four or five times each, varying his tone. Steve, my fantastic soundman, helped to direct and advised if he felt more emphasis was needed. I feel really lucky to have had the opportunity to work with two such professionals and am looking forward to sharing the result.

Arranging the recording of the narration myself has been a big learning curve. Here are a couple of things I have learnt.

* Sound is complex! And simple all at once. Get some proper advice about exactly what type of files are required for each platform. I needed 41,000 Hz 16 bit .wavs and mp3s saved at a rate of 128. I had no idea what it meant either!

* I confess I'm a bit of a nerd so downloaded a free trial of Adobe Audition to clip the audio, i.e. cut out the bits we didn't need. I watched lots of tutorials online and it was really satisfying doing it myself.

* The story had been copy-edited but the 'asides' for the characters had only been read by me. Hearing them in David's voice(s!) made me change some of the phrases a little and as it was just a small team, we had the chance to be as flexible as we wanted to be.

So, not long now until you will be able to see the results of all the collaborations it has taken to put the book together. In some ways it's been almost ten years in the making! And I've still got the print version to go... But before that, while I'm waiting for the iBooks and Amazon review, I think I'll just have a little lie down. And perhaps just one more chocolate digestive...

Etsy Shop Photoshoot

My Christmas cards arrived from printed.com last week (cue much excitement from me!) and I set a day aside to take some photos of them ready to put them on sale in my Etsy shop. I wanted to set up a Christmassy scene for the cards to give the photos a nice festive feel so I popped to the shops and bought some Christmas bits and bobs (also a rather good excuse to stock up on chocolate and mince pies).

Once I'd laid everything out at home I put White Christmas on the TV to get myself in the mood and tried out various arrangements. I found it helpful to take some test photos using my iPhone and quickly found that some props worked better than others.

When I'm taking photos to put on Instagram I really like having a white background. It's light and bright and really seems to highlight what's in the picture. I played around taking a test photo which included my tea strainer that I was using to sprinkle icing sugar over the mince pies. Sometimes it just has to feel right and this set-up felt like it would show the cards off nicely so I took a photo of each card in this style.

I also took pictures of my hand simply holding the cards and some of the cards standing on the table with the tinsel and fairylights or with the chocolate Father Christmas (whilst trying not to eat him and the chocolate coins). It was fun experimenting to see what worked. And it was also fun eating mince pies while I pondered. Well... There were six and I only needed two for the pictures.

Since taking my photos I watched a lovely video from Makelight about making a flat lay. I would recommend having a look as Emily Quinton is a professional photographer who runs workshops in online photography and she has a really pretty style. The flat lay I created for my photos is quite simple in comparison to hers and it's made me want to try this technique again in the future.

After reviewing my photos, my top three pointers would be:
* Take pictures with natural light. It was a gloomy day when I took mine so I worked on my set-up as close the window as possible.
* Don't use a flash. The flash make the light glare and highlight unnaturally which makes the photo look unbalanced.
* Don't clutter the composition too much. Ensure the focus is the product rather than the props!

Once I'd taken my photos I brightened them up a little in Photoshop (but this can easily be done with apps on your phone too) and then set about writing product descriptions and uploading them to Etsy.

And as an extra treat, here's a clip from the lovely movie that helped with the atmosphere for my little photoshoot : )

Playing With Animated Gifs

It's Colour Collective time again and this week the chosen colour is dark sky blue. Before I get into my writing for the day, I've been getting my drawing ready to post on Twitter at 19:30 tonight. Dark sky blue made me think of winter skies, slightly dulled and gloomy but brightened up by a flurry of snow. Once I'd drawn my picture it felt like the snow should flutter a little so I decided to make a little animated gif to amuse myself. If you fancy trying this, here's a link to the tutorial that I used.

Happy 3rd Birthday

I can’t believe it’s already been three years since I started my company, And So We Begin, on what would have been my nana’s 100th birthday. Three years of juggling, working hard and trying to achieve more creatively. Today I’m celebrating once again, with cake (naturally) and spending a little bit of time reflecting on what I'm trying to do and where I want And So We Begin to be in another year's time.

My company is a blend of two worlds. Half the time it's just me... Listening to 6 Music drinking tea... Writing, painting and drawing, creating things with the hope that people will enjoy them. The other half of the time I'm being prized out of my creative cocoon to have adventures working in event management.

In reality, this means that the creative side of things often takes a back seat while I concentrate on the events work and it's a constant challenge to find time to create and to try to get that side of And So We Begin off the ground.

I recently read Big Magic by the wonderful Elizabeth Gilbert and one of her main pieces of advice is to 'not give up the day job'. She says that this puts far too much pressure on your creative pursuits to make money and means that you can't create freely. I've often thought I needed to 'take the leap' and become a penniless artist to make the creative side of my company work but actually I think she might be right and juggling has its benefits. Mainly security. And with such pressure on my time, I find it makes me even more determined to sneak an hour here and there to pursue a project, paint or write.

This anniversary finds me on a rare break from the day job and so I'm pondering my projects and writing a long 'to do' list. The minute I have spare time I've found I've got an avalanche of ideas all fighting for attention. Below are just some of the projects I'm thinking about... The question is, how do I prioritise and work out what to focus on first? How do I make sure And So We Begin has a clear path forwards?

Angel's Great Escape
I started And So We Begin to launch my first story book app with perhaps more apps to follow. The experience of making the Angel's Great Escape app was many things... Complicated, eye-opening, satisfying, exciting, fun, long and a massive learning curve. It was an absolute labour of love and a way to bring the story to life rather than founded in a desire to make apps.

My labour of love continues as this Christmas I'll be releasing Angel's Great Escape as an ebook. The story has been reworked into a more traditional picture book style with pretty fonts and a brand new additional character. I hope that this will take the story one step closer to my hope of seeing it for sale in print.

Illustration
In the past year, I have found a new love of drawing. It seemed to come out of the blue and wasn't something that I had ever thought of as a viable business idea. Put simply, I didn't think I could draw. At the time, I felt unable to write but I really missed the feeling of the pen on the page. One day, while waiting for a delayed train I took my notebook out of my bag and started to draw. It just felt nice. As simple as that.

I really hope that illustration will have a part to play in how And So We Begin develops. I opened an Etsy shop earlier this year and started to tentatively sell some cards. I was quite surprised when people wanted to buy them. So my plan for the next few weeks is to restock the shop with Christmassy cards and prints and to see what happens...!

Brush Lettering
Another hobby I started this year to help me switch off is brush lettering. The old fashioned way, with a proper brush and pot of ink. One weekend when I had just finished a very busy event, I attended a lovely workshop hosted by Quill London. There were pastries and coffee and lovely tutors who showed us patiently how to use our brushes and ink. It not as easy as it looks! While the tutors produced beautiful, elegant lines, my hand writing looked like I hadn't written for twenty years. But with practice at home I started to find it very therapeutic and started to create little designs. I'm not sure how brush lettering will feature in And So We Begin's future but I hope it does.

Writing
Ah, my oldest and greatest love. I'm planning to re-read and edit my children's novel that has been shut in a drawer for six months. And I have an idea for another novel whose characters are starting to step out of the corners of my mind and on to scribbled notes in my notebooks. Another piece of wise advice from Elizabeth Gilbert is to make sure you "show up and get to work" so even if I find myself staring at a blank screen I'm going to start blocking out some time each day to write and hopefully it will show up too. It makes me think of this brilliant Peanuts cartoon : )

And then there's the sitcom script that I've been working on with my comedy writing partner in crime for, well, 'several years'... And the other novel idea... And the question of whether to self-publish or to pursue trying to find an agent... And the paintings I'd like to sell...

The question is, is it really possible to focus on everything at once and still give every idea full attention? How do you find focus if several ideas are all jumping up and down and shouting 'pick me'? Do you listen to the one that shouts the loudest when you wake up in the morning? How do you handle making sure you have a clear creative direction? I'd love to hear your thoughts. And in the meantime, I'm going to tuck into this cake and get back to brush lettering this rather long 'to do' list.