Friday Focus: It's Your Life

This week's Friday Focus theme is about doing things your own way - taking in information and experiences and using the parts that speak to you to help you go out and create your own life. 

Following Ryan Holmes, CEO of HootSuite, on LinkedIn led me to this illustrated inspiration from Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, which led me to Sarah and Chris who decided to quit their jobs and travel around the U.S. giving out free pie. What's not to love about that? 

"Don’t write to be read. Write to write, explore, experiment, share, express, inspire."

from Fuck Stats, Make Art by Paul Jarvis 

Cross the Line | Inward Facing Girl on Instagram

"Saying “no” has more creative power than ideas, insights and talent combined."

from Creative People Say No by Kevin Ashton

 

I guess they said no a lot: The 100 Most Creative People in Business 2013 according to Fast Company

Marfa, Texas via The Collective Quarterly

Drew's going to kill me.

There's another lovely quarterly magazine coming out soon. I'm obsessed with them in general, and this one sounds amazing. 

The Collective Quarterly rounds up a group of artists, takes them on a trip (first stop, Marfa...SIGH!), they make stuff, document it, and create the magazine. The maiden voyage is a group of guy friends, but estrogen will be welcome and recruited for future creative journeys.

Hi, Collective Quarterly. Nice to meet you. Consider my hand raised. 

The Service Station in Los Feliz

If I still lived in Los Angeles, The Service Station in Los Feliz (a multi-use creative space housed in an abandoned gas station) would be my office away from home.  

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Where I've Been This Week

Hanging out with my dear friend Sandra. 

Sandra by Melanie on Instagram

I'm looking forward to writing more on Medium. I wrote my first post this week - When What You Want Isn't What You Want. You guys might know some of this story already, but since it's part of a new community I thought I should introduce myself. There's probably at least a couple of thoughts you haven't read from me yet. 

I talked up the Olympic Sculpture Park at Frock Files. 

I've been reminding people about The Equals in Print project. There are only eight days left to make this awesome thing happen for creative women writers, photographers, and illustrators. If you think it's worthwhile, will you help me spread the word by sharing it on your social media networks? Thank you so much!

I hope you guys have a great weekend. See you back here on Monday! xo

Sharing Seattle on Frock Files Today

The lovely Joy Uyeno at the awesome Stumptown Coffee

Photo Credit: Meghann Street

My lovely and talented friend Joy from Frock Files invited me to take part in her May Let's Get Local theme. Come join me there today where I share the ONE place in Seattle I would take you if you came for a visit. And yes, it was really hard to pick just one place in this amazing city!

Joy Uyeno 

Photo Credit: Meghann Street

Vivian Lives: The Precursor to Lifestyle Blogs

What did you do on the interwebs before Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest? When you didn't have a Feedly full of design blogs, food blogs, and lifestyle blogs to read? Do you even remember? I do. I used to visit Vivian Lives every...single...day.

Does anyone else remember Vivian Livingston, the (literally) animated New York City marketing/PR executive dreamed up by real-life marketing/PR executive Sherrie Krantz? 

The site is gone now, but back in 2000 with a few clicks of a mouse you could enter Vivian's world. Kind of like we do now when we visit our favorite lifestyle blogs, except that Vivian and her life was a complete work of fiction. 

I checked this site all of the time to see what Vivian was up to. I read her diary faithfully. It was my favorite "lifestyle blog" of 2000-2002ish. I kept up with her on her "live" Viv-cam to see what was going on with her during her day (pre-Twitter and Instagram voyeurism). I went inside her apartment to see what new books she was reading (pre-Goodreads) and what movies she was watching. I looked through her clothes, hung out on the message boards with other "Viv-Heads," peeked into her refrigerator, and was completely obsessed with this made-up woman and her made-up world. It was awesome.

"Vivian" even got a publishing deal at Random House, "co-writing" her books with Sherrie Krantz. And why wouldn't she? The fictional It Girl's site was generating over six million visits a month, according to the Vivian Lives article on BrandChannel.

It's interesting to think about that online community now, the sponsorships that fictional Vivian Livingston had compared to the similar ways that brands work with real live bloggers today. If your favorite blogger hosts a giveaway for some really cool product, you start to associate it with her. You're like, "OMG, there are those ah-may-zing Ink Dish plates from Alyson Fox! The Jealous Curator has those. I want them too!"

I remember when Vivian got a bright red Jeep Liberty. She and her BFF Sophie would have all kinds of road trip adventures. Sometimes her dog, Omelette, would come along too.

In 2002 I had to get a new car. I bought a black Jeep Liberty. It works. Just saying. 

P.S. Danielle - Give me the plates.

Share Pieces of You | Fong Qi Wei's Exploded Flowers

Hydrangea Exploded 01 by Fong Qi Wei

Next month I'm speaking at an event called Blogger's Summer Camp. I'll be part of a  panel called The Myths and Realities of Monetizing Your Blog. Speakers were also asked to lead a roundtable discussion on a blogging topic that we're passionate about, so I'm going to talk about why it's important to share your story if you want to sell your work.

If you know me at all, you know that I'm pretty good about being upfront and speaking my truth. If you're an astrology person, you may know that one Sagittarius personality characteristic is being "honest to a fault." Some call it being blunt. Translation - I can't hide how I feel, and I don't really want to. I'm not going to be like, "OMG, this is so awesome!" when it's clearly the opposite of awesome. Sucksome? I may not shout out how much I dislike the sucksome thing, but I'm surely not going to agree that it's great. Well, unless you give me a book for Christmas called How to Be More Assertive. Then I'm going to say, as calmly as possible given the rudeness of said gift, "You must have meant to give this to someone else," and toss the book on the floor. True story. Just ask my ex-in-laws. Seriously...OMG...right? My mother thought the gift choice was hilarious.

It's not that I don't have a filter. I do. A really great one, actually. I'm very good at keeping secrets. Just ask...never mind. I'm also usually very good at holding my tongue when it's prudent to do so. But if you flat out ask me what I think about your idea or your product or what the "realities of monetizing your blog" are, I'm going to tell you. Straight up. 

Some people might be offended by my level of honesty. I certainly don't mean to offend anyone when I'm put on the spot and asked for my opinion. Others might trust me even more because they know that I'm not going to tell them things that I don't really believe. And you know what? Honestly? The ones that would be offended because I'm not willing to jump on their smiling and nodding bandwagon? I'm not going to want to spend time with them anyway, or be interested in anything they're selling, or care about their opinions of what I do or think. 

Believe it or not, these are the things that crossed my mind when I first saw this beautiful exploding flowers series by photographer Fong Qi Wei on Trendland. Looking at the individual petals of the flowers and seeing how these pieces all fit together to form one beautiful flower made me think about what it's like to open up and share bits and pieces of yourself to a new friend, lover, or even a potential client or customer.

Sharing at least some parts of you that make you "you" are what sets you apart from everyone else. The unique pieces of the experiences you've had in your life are woven together to form a person and point-of-view that's like no other. 

Rose Exploded 01 by Fong Qi Wei

As a creative small business owner, one of the main things that I'm "selling" along with my products or services is myself. When you hire me to help you learn how to brand or market yourself or your work, you're not just selecting a service. You're selecting a service and my personal, unique, experience and knowledge. You're working with me, a person, with my own life and work history and my own personality. 

Sunflower Exploded 01 by Fong Qi Wei

The same is true for you. When people buy your photography, graphic design services, or cool vintage-inspired dresses, they're also buying part of your story. What are you willing to share with your customers or readers? What are some special, unique things about yourself, your experiences, or your beliefs that would help your audience get to know you better?

If you're not used to sharing parts of yourself, it can be really scary. When you're in that place, try to remember this.

We want to know you. That's why we're here.

xoxo

Friday Focus: Creative Mamas

I have been HORRIBLE about keeping up with my blog reading lately. One of my favorites that I haven't read in WAY too long is The Glow. There are lots of cool, creative, talented mamas here, and the photographs are amazing. Some of my favorite interviews and photographs: Jemima Kirke, Athena Calderone (P.S. Have you seen her site, Eye Swoon?), Christiane Lemieux of the fabulous DwellStudio. Good stuff.

Photo Credit: Kelly Stuart for The Glow

Studio Mothers came up in one of my searches this week. I'm not familiar with the site, but I thought some of you might want to take a look. Here's the description from their site: Studio Mothers is a community where you can share your creative intentions and struggles — and receive support in making those goals happen.

In case you missed it, yesterday I interviewed creative mom Autumn Reeser. See how she makes her creative life work.

The Creative Mama is another search engine find and it looks like they have a whole team of creative mamas behind their content. 

A piece on motherhood and creativity, and one artist mom who drew her way out of postpartum depression.

If my awesome mom wasn't my mom, I would want several Sally Field characters mixed together.

Photo Credit: AP via Mirror UK

Bloggers on Motherhood is a series that I ran last year that features some extremely talented, creative women. If you missed it, take a look!

Happy Mother's Day, creative moms. We rock. :) xo