Hand-made tiles on recycled furniture by Tammy Vitale of Tam’s Originals.
Did you miss me yesterday? Wasn’t my fault. The internet imps did it. I had a blog already to go – great newsy stuff from around the net. Was checking my links and bam….closed the wrong window and lost it all. Ever had a day start like that? Does it make you worry about what is to come?
In the past I would have said – oooookkkkkaaaaaayyyyyyyy and given the day up to the imps. No longer. Even at the beginning of the day a blip is just a blip. The rest of the day gets better and better. And so it did because by expecting it, that’s what I called to myself. Had a great meeting with Women in Harmony, my networking group; lunched afterwards with my web master (MASTER!), another Tammy and her Mom, a WIH member who does Reiki. Then home to work in the studio glazing a kiln load of work so that I have enough for this Sunday’s show at The Brone Door Day Spa. What’s left will go to the May show at Heron’s Way Gallery. What’s at Heron’s Way will shift to the May show for ArtWorks@7th Gallery. Oh yeah, and then there’s the Calvert Artists’ Guild’s show at AnnMarie Garden the same weekend as the Heron’s Way Gallery opening. All in all a busy two weeks coming up.
And I finished the kiln load so it cooked overnight and should be done in about half an hour; in about 3 hours I can start pushing the cooling process by first venting it and then opening it around 600 degrees (it will finish at slightly over 1900 degrees F). I have definitely pushed this whole load, spending most of Saturday making what is now cooking. It is usually good to let it dry for 5 – 7 days but I blasted it with fan and dehumidifier and am crossing my fingers that the imps stopped at the internet and left the kiln alone (of course it could be a whole different society of imps, so I bowed several times to the kiln and told it what a great job it is doing – I’ll let you know how it went tomorrow).
Today I have a date with the local Small Business Development office of Southern Maryland. I met their representative at the St. Mary’s Women in Harmony meeting last week and when she noted she had just finished her master’s in ecommerce, I hastened to make an appointment with her. She says she hasn’t done much with blogging so I want to see what she IS doing that could help you and me out. I’ll let you know about that tomorrow, too.
Meanwhile, through FeedBlitz (which I would explain to you if I understood it better, but I don’t. I just know I browsed through their offerings at some point and now get daily feeds of blogs and ezines which then lead me off to others which lead me off to others…) I ran across TopRank Press Release Optimization which talks about Press Releases on the Internet and getting your information ranked right up there with the big guys – and realized why I’m still rather small (but very happy). I didn’t understand half of what it says in a way that would help me implement the information. It made me worry that what I said about press releases to your locals might read like the same gibberish to you, so if it did, please call me on it and I’ll go back and try to make it really really easy for you to do it. Of course I’m actually giving it to you for free and they are trying to sell their services so that might make a difference in how the copy reads.
At Sharilyn Horne’s Solopreneurial Tendancies blog, I ran across a good description of how to add those tags you see at the end of blogs: "e-mail this, Add to del.icio.us." I’m not sure I understand del.icio.us yet; Sharilyn notes that using it is what finally helps you to understand it. I was wandering around on the net one day and fell in love with her blog. How can you not love someone who writes clearly and posts a picture of "view from my desk" of the back end of her basset hound (no I can’t see the front end, but I know my basset hounds), and puts out quotes like this: Promise me you’ll always remember: you’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. (Chrisopher Robin to Pooh) (her post of April 22, 06). So I subscribed to her and get her regularly (I suggest you do the same).
Thought for the Day:
"Did you think you could do what you love in the same bruising way you did what you hated? Sure you did.
"But you can’t. Self-criticism keeps you small and self-absorbed. You might whip yourself into remorse, but never into the kind of crescendo that lifts density into genius….Creativity thrives on kindness and self-care.
"And when the night is really dark, give yourself a lot of room…." Tama Kieves This Time I Dance
1 Comment
Thanks for the kind words and pointer to my blog. I'm glad you like it! I hope to do more tutorials in a similar vein in the near future.
Roscoe the Basset Hound also wants to thank you for not mistaking him for a Beagle (I know…strange, but it happens all the time), and to let you know that he does have a face as well.
Cheers!
Shari