I have to confess...

that I did not send out invitations to people on my mailing list for my sale. Guess what happened? Very few people came to my sale. It is my own fault and oddly enough I am not that upset, mostly right now I am just exhausted.

Which leads me to this; Some truths about doing it all yourself ,the pitfalls and life's other distractions.

1. What do you do when you get tired, so tired that you are unable to make decisions? There is no one there who will do it for you or to help push you over that finish line. This is my greatest struggle. That extra charge that is needed at the end of a project. I become spent from the work, the creative process, the plain old labor of lifting bags of clay, loading kilns, mixing five gallon buckets of slip, casting, making, drawing, emailing, keeping up, fallowing up, loading up, packing, keeping people happy, keeping up with the Christmas madness. I barely celebrate Christmas anymore because by the time it gets here I really could care less. It's too much people. I think today was the first day in two weeks I sat down to eat. No kidding.

2. What happens when things come up that stop you in your tracks and must be paid attention to? When a tragedy hits your community and your livelihood relies on being a capitalist but the reality of making and selling poses such contrast to what is happening that it takes something out of you, that oomph, your heart. Now I know the answer to that, and I can hear you all saying "oh, but you have to keep going..." and I really do know this, but sometimes life just knocks you upside the head. We can't plan for these things and sometimes they happen the week before your sale. That's just the way it is.

3. Then as all of these things are happening, you unload your kiln only to find that your glaze has crawled and some of your pieces have that old problem of peeling that you struggled with a year and a half ago. You thought you had finally finished your orders, but no, you have to remake the pieces, work that takes you two to three weeks to complete, you have to write people and explain the problem, that you won't be able to send the complete order and then you have to start all over again. It's enough to drive anyone to madness.

4. Luckily there are always remedies and solutions to all of these dilemmas. Really I am very fortunate and I do recognize this. I guess I am frustrated for getting so tired and overwhelmed that getting a simple email out to 500 people seemed like an enormous task. I can fix that though. Guess what, I am going have another sale this week! I am going send out invitations to people to come by on Wednesday night. Though this time I'm gonna spike the cider...

Cheers! To Solutions! To loved ones! To loving and being loved and to doing the best we can!