One of the things I’ve been doing lately is trying to change my relationship with money — feeling like there’s plenty of it, like I’m really allowed to have some, and like I have enough to share. I’ve also been trying to shift my professional focus from design to art and illustration, to let my creative side feel like it has plenty and let go of the ingrained image of the starving artist.

As of yesterday, I’m doing two things:

1. I’m posting some kind of art every day at Antemortem Arts, whether it’s a sketch or a finished painting, for sale or sold, unsaleable or just something I want to keep around for myself.
2. I’m donating 10% (of the gross, rounded up to the nearest dollar) of all my art and Etsy sales to charity.

I’m starting with Kiva, and at the end of May I’ll give them a lump donation of everything I’ve saved up for April and May. Then I’ll change to a new charity — probably the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I’ll rotate every month or two so that I can give to the causes that call to me, that always seem so endless when trying to choose just one.

So, what do you think? Would it feel better to you, as a supporter of the arts, to know a part of your money was going directly to another good cause?

My little Draw Your Monster sale was a success! I’ve got 3 Monsters in the queue, two of which are already sketched up and waiting refinement. Once they’re done, after the coloring book comes out, I might revisit the idea, so if you were waiting to see how things turned out you’ll have a chance.

I also got some great advice today from Naomi at Ittybiz about my Be a Cartoon sales page, and have added a bunch of new people to my Cartoon portfolio page, so check it out! I’m thinking of doing a Cartoon sale for Mother’s Day — maybe including some free greeting cards or something, what do you all think?

March was a hard month for a lot of us, but it seems like (once those tax payment checks clear, anyway) April is starting to look up. The sunshine, despite all my efforts to keep it out of the apartment, is starting to cheer me up and bring in some much-needed energy. Not to mention secret burblings of site updates, possible joint offerings with other people, and maybe even something teleclass-ish.

How’s it going for all of you?

Be the change you want to see in the world.
– Mahatma Gandhi

The above quote fuels a dozen blog posts a day, many of them trying to rally their readers toward the writer’s pet cause. Whether it’s eco-consciousness or stamping out Twilight, most people have a cause that’s dear to their hearts. Some causes have a thousand voices crying out to champion them, others have millions, and some are important only to a handful of people, but everyone’s got something.

I don’t have a pet cause. No one I know has ever been afflicted with some terrible tragedy, and the troubles I’ve had have all been fairly ordinary and — though quite angst-ridden at the time, I’m sure — nothing I couldn’t get over without an army of people rallying to my side. I’ve never had cancer or some obscure, uncurable disease; I’ve never been assaulted or even mugged; I really don’t have the mental energy to indulge in outrage for the sake of itself when I could be using that energy to make art (or play Mouse Hunt).

So I found myself wondering, what change do I want to see?

• I want to see more beauty where people are creating ugliness.
• I want people to have more compassion where there is now callousness.
• I want more kindness, instead of deliberate or thoughtless cruelty.
• I want to see people actually respecting each other, instead of grabbing at superiority under the false label of respect.

Some of these are easier than others.

As an artist, I create things every day that, I hope, add beauty to the world. From the paintings on my walls to the work I do for clients, I try to make things which are pleasing to the eye and the soul, even while they sometimes serve another function.

Compassion is harder for me. While my cynical apathy protects me from spinning myself out into nothing trying to help every person who needs or thinks they’re in need, it also keeps a lot of things from really touching me. Every person’s pain is deeply individual, and it can be very hard to resist the urge to play a rating game — your pain is your own fault so it doesn’t count, your pain isn’t as bad as his pain, your pain is fleeting so it doesn’t deserve as much. It’s hard to figure out, too, how much or how far to be open to things — my lines right now are pretty harsh, but if I move them too far I’ll just end up raw and useless in other ways.

Kindness seems easy, but thoughtlessness trumps it a lot. Kindness requires attention, being in the present and recognizing when someone needs you to give them something, a moment or a dollar or a smile. It’s a lot easier than compassion, though, because there’s a ton of small ways to be kind, and being thoughtful and kind can even help develop compassion. Someone deserving of kindness seems to us then to be more deserving of compassion as well.

The hardest thing to remember is that everyone is deserving of kindness and compassion.

Respect is the last one, and that one’s really hard on so many levels, because so much hides under the umbrella of respect these days. So many people equate “do what I say” with “respect me” and that’s just not the case. I can totally respect you as a human and an equal, and still have my reasons for doing things my own way. What’s ironic is that when people push it, shoving their way of doing and being down your throat, they’re disrespecting you while demanding you respect them. A lot of authority figures run into this issue — they want you to respect them because of their authority, but refuse to respect those who are answerable to that authority.

It’s such a thorny issue, and it pokes into every sensitive place in our society. I’m not intending to write a whole essay here, either, though, so I’ll let what I’ve said stand.

So, there’s the things I need to work on, if I want to be the change. Beauty and kindness, compassion and respect.

What change do you want to see? How can you take a small step today to become more of what the world needs?

I have a confession to make: right now, as of this writing, I only have seven clients. One of those clients has been working with me since I first started out as a lowly desktop publisher back in 1996. One of those clients just hired me at the end of December for a single project. One hired me back in August for a single project that’s just now finishing up, but another hired me for a single project in 1999 and has been with me ever since, so you never know.

The thing is, I never wanted to have so many clients that I needed a CRM and invoicing software just to keep track of them. My needs are, in all honesty, pretty modest — though that’s a confession for another post — and I like having a lot of free time to do whatever I like, whether it’s play Facebook games or participate in NaNoWriMo, make art or read books. It’s that quiet time that gives me the energy and space to incubate my client projects and create something unique, or at least as good as I can manage, for every project.

This small list of clients means that when someone asks to have something changed today, pretty please, I can usually accommodate them. It means I can send out handmade holiday cards, and write something thoughtful and sincere in each one. It means every one of my clients is a person to me, and many of them start as or become friends. It means sometimes I can take a whole day off to go visit someone in their office so we can brainstorm their next big idea together.

I do want to do a little big of expansion this year, and some of that has to do with expanding my own skills. That free time I mentioned above has helped me develop my illustration style on the side, so I can offer some new services. I read marketing blogs as much for the advice I can give to my clients when we’re building their sites as for my own business. What I aim to do is find a balance between money stress and work stress, so that each client gets the best of me, and knows that they’re on a very short list of people who can say that.

Some designers do a wonderful job putting out a site in short time, for a wide variety of clients, and I even sometimes envy them, but that’s not who I am. Every website, every logo, every cartoon requires thought and creativity, trial and error, and time to burble through the creative distillery in my brain until it comes out as refined as I can manage.

With a list the size of mine, each client gets individual attention from me, and while I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes I get tired of hand-holding, most of the time I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’m Holly, and thanks to Amy, I am now a cartoon. I am also proud to call myself both a client and friend of Amy’s. So, while I could easily spend all day telling you how awesome Amy is, if you’re reading this, you probably know that already. So, what I’m going to talk about today is going to sound like one of those Alice in Wonderland riddles, but it’s really a simple concept: How is a cartoon like copywriting?

For some background, I’m a copywriter. In particular, I’m a copywriter who specializes in capturing voices. Clients come to me with a sales page, and then a process starts. I listen to them talk, I read their material, and I find out as much about them as I possibly can. All so I can write the wordy equivalent of one of Amy’s cartoons. Which is quite honestly why I wanted a cartoon for my website. Her cartoons capture people in the same spirit as my copy does.

But rather than sound like an ad, I really want to talk about how cartoons and copy are similar, and can serve the same purpose on a website. It’s a whole different way to express yourself on your site, and equally valuable and interesting. Cartoons, by nature, reflect the truth of a person. Cartoons, by nature, are also exaggerated for effect. People are larger, louder, and more colorful in a cartoon. It’s still them, but maybe not the person you’d meet in a business setting, or at the park on a weekend. But that’s great, because if you’re a business, part of the key to making money is being yourself. Not just in a quiet way, but in a loud, colorful and powerful way.

Good marketing copy does the same thing. It captures the essence of you, and then exaggerates it in a way that draws people in, and shows off your personality loudly in the best possible light. Like a cartoon, this doesn’t always equate to loud and obnoxious writing. The true sell is in the details. On my cartoon, it’s the little sweater on my dog that has a royal crest, because he’s named after the canine knight from the movie Labyrinth. Someone is going to see that on my site and know what kind of person I am, just from that little detail. In the amazingly fun world of the internet, I would bet real money that someone would make a copywriting inquiry on that detail alone. That wasn’t something I planned or requested: it was something Amy added from her knowledge of me, and of my love for muppet movies and my dog.

In an ideal world, that’s what great writing does too. It captures the small details that make up who you are, and presents them in an intriguing and marketable way. It’s not about neon orange and green, or about large bold text with yellow highlighter. When it comes down to it, good marketing, in whatever form is always about people.

That awful overused saying that a picture is worth a thousand words? Sometimes, in marketing, it’s really true. And sometimes, you need the words too, but they need to paint their own picture; one that is equally real, and equally cartoony.

Holly is the founder and chief pirate queen of Cottage Copy, along with her canine co-manager, Sir Didymus. You can find her on twitter as @copygeniusgirl, and on her blog.

OK, not really, but I couldn’t resist.

My new site, Antemortem Arts, is on its way! There’s nothing up there yet (hence the lack of a link), but the CSS is done and then I have to slog through my Very First WP Theme Creation, and it’ll be ready to go!

Antemortem Arts is going to showcase my fine art the same way Not Dead Yet Studios (seeing a theme here?) showcases my design work. There’ll be a gallery of finished pieces (for sale and not), information on how to commission your very own art, and posts that show how some of my pieces have grown from a blank canvas into a finished work.

To kick things off, I’ll even be having a commission sale — just in time to think about getting that hard-to-please person something for Christmas. (Yes, I know it’s months away, but good art takes time!)

I’ve already got 2 or 3 people in my holiday queue, so if you’re interested, drop me a line — I’ll link you to a secret gallery and a few other commissions, and we can talk!

As I was cleaning my kitchen today, I had to move my knife block around, dust him off, and think about him as I rarely do when I’m just snagging a knife. He’s shiny and red, and yes, he has a name — Stanley, which is, for the record, not a name of anyone I know.

Stanley’s a little too tall for my kitchen, but I love him too much to replace him.

The thing is, I realized that part of why I love him is that I have a private myth around Stanley, that I built at some point in the past. I think that, in the absence of useful group myths, and even in their presence, sometimes we make up stories around our things and our surroundings and our lives, myths that are only for us. Or at least I do — maybe I’m the only one, but I doubt it.

I tell myself that Stanley actually likes his knives, and that he only hurts when when one is missing, like the ache where your wisdom teeth used to be, dull and hollow. Of course, the down side is that if they’re ever all missing for too long, he’ll come looking for them — and for me, to remind me never to do that again. Except for the bread knife, which is often out on the bread board with the bread, I do mostly keep him full up.

Especially that big one right in his heart — I wouldn’t want Stanley to have a heartache, after all.

The incomparable Havi Brooks wrote on her blog about her inner Writer Havi (she said “Writer Me” but you can see how that would be confusing), a Tinkerbell-sized fairy with a prim pencil skirt and her hair held up in a bun. She was also laughing hysterically, and the image of her, proper and delicate and spinning around while she giggled helplessly stuck with me. In fact, it brought up the idea of my own inner Artist Me, the svelte, together artist who actually paints more than once every week or so.

Inspired, I managed to eke some time out of a busy week to draw!

First, we have Writer Havi.

She’s in black & white (on a “fluent blue” background) because all photos I see of Havi are b&w.; Selma gets full color, but Havi’s always tastefully done in shades of grey.

Next, we have Artist Amy.

She got a little color, and a t-shirt I’ve decided I need to find or make on Cafepress. She also has a non-black version of my Jolly Roger pajama pants on, and something resembling my current hair color, so go her!

One of the questions that I’ve been asked recently is what it’s like working with me — not just the personality things, but the actual process from start to finish, so I thought I’d see if I could outline the stages a little bit.

Step 1: Finding Me

Most of my clients find me through referrals. I don’t actually have a big client list — maybe 4-6 active clients at any one time — but I’ve kept a few of the same clients for most of the time I’ve been freelancing, which helps a lot. I’ve also been doing some in-person networking lately. I’ve never actually connected with a client through my website, but part of that is because I prefer to work locally and personally with people, and thus haven’t done any SEO to get a wider audience looking at it.

If you’re looking now, and thinking of contacting me, please do!

Step 2: Getting a Quote

Once we’ve found each other, the next step is to talk about your project! I can often give you a rough quote right off the bat, and then once we’ve really gotten down into the goals for your project and the needs you have for its design, I will write up and send a proposal. There are lots of questions to be asked at this stage, and I really like to have an in-person meeting to talk, look at what marketing collateral you already have, and get a clear idea of the scope and purpose of your project.

After that, I’ll email you a proposal that includes a tentative schedule, and a firm price.

Step 3: Getting Started

If you’ve accepted the quote, then I’ll send you a contract with firm due dates and an invoice for the first part of the fee (I request half down on most projects). There will be due dates in there for my work — but also for you, in getting me whatever content you need. And a guarantee that if you hit all your due dates but I miss one of mine, you’ll get a 10% discount at the end.

What comes next is… more questions! And working up a design idea for you (or more than one, if I think there’s a few directions it could go). A lot of times we’ll have worked out a sketch, color palette, or organization scheme during our initial meeting, which makes this next bit go faster. This is also the stage where I need to get any logos or other images from you, so that I have them for making your mock-ups.

You will have gotten or will be getting together any content for the project during this time, as well — copy written, or a copy writer hired, along with any custom photography that needs doing. I can help you find other creative professionals to dovetail along with my work, too, if that’s what you need.

If it’s a website you want, we’ll make sure you’re all set up with a domain and hosting — either by getting that info from you, or setting it up for you. If it’s a print piece, we’ll lay out the specifications and decide on a printer, or start to get quotes. If it’s an ad of some kind, I’ll get the specs directly from the vendor so I know I’m making just exactly what they want, and what you need.

It’ll take a couple of weeks to get through this stage, depending on my schedule and yours. At the end of it, I’ll be able to give you a first draft of your design, and you’ll be able to assure me that the copy is on the way.

Step 4: Revisions

Next, you get up to 3 rounds of revisions on that first draft. This stage can take a long or short amount of time — some clients spend a long time with the drafts before they get back to me, and some turn things around right away. At least a few weeks should be allotted here, and more if you’ve got a committee at your end who needs to approve things.

Step 5: Build

Here’s where I must have your finished copy, and any other final materials (like high-res logos for print jobs, or finalized photographs).

If we’re doing a print piece, this is probably mostly about making sure the job is within the printer’s specs and popping in your final copy, if I didn’t already have it.

If it’s a website, this is where we go from jpgs of what your site might look like, to a real live proof with buttons that work and pages that have actual content on them.

Step 6: Approval

Whatever we’re making, I’ll require a final approval, and the final payment, before it goes live. Files will go off to the printer or advertiser, or the website will launch, and we’re done!

Step 7: Aftercare

You’ve got your site up, but you need some edits? I’ll be here to help you out with that. I have a ‘program’ for those small edits that need to be done, but don’t need to cost an arm and a leg — instead of my usual $40 (half hour) minimum, I allow existing clients to send me small changes, and when they’ve racked up 5 changes I bill them for an ‘hour’, or $80.

Not sure if the email you got requesting a renewal payment is legit? I’ve got all your info saved, and can tell you if that’s a real provider for no charge at all.

Need another order of business cards or brochures? I’ll have you files on hand, and can help arrange it with the printer. If there’s no changes from you or the vendor, this, too, will be gratis.

Got another project? Hopefully you’ll think of me fondly, and bring it my way.

I’ve been slowly coming around to an idea that’s so simple, and yet so hard to face — it’s part of what Havi would call my “Stuff,” no doubt about it.

I am overweight and out of shape — yeah, big shock, someone on the internet who isn’t in perfect health. And every day I think about how I’d like to feel better, have more energy, get all those supposed benefits of being healthy. And all you have to do to get there is eat well and exercise, right?

Except here’s the conundrum:

I have never, ever associated exercise with feeling good.

Everyone who talks about exercising says it’ll give you more energy, that exercise is the key to feeling good, that you can just find that one magic thing you love to do and it’ll make you thin and svelte and awesome.

But I’m not actually any good at any of those things. I’m awkward. I have bad knees. I was always picked last in gym class, and it’s the only class I was ever in danger of failing.

Exercise is a bad thing to me. It’s humiliation and incompetence and that horrible sick feeling you get when you’re forced to try to do things your body isn’t ready for because some authority figure thinks it should be. It’s being the worst at something, and being forced to do it over and over again anyway.

This is not something that makes me think I will feel good and have more energy. In fact, it makes me feel tired and a little sick just contemplating it.

How can I solve this conundrum? I don’t know. I have been walking a lot more, but in that way where nothing is ever good enough, that’s not really helping much anymore. It’s been a couple of years since I made the change, and so I’ve long past reached that plateau where I’m supposed to “up the intensity” or some shit. But my errands? Not that intense.

I could try to relate this to work — how still you have to do the parts that aren’t your best thing in order to do the bits you’re really good at, how a lot of businesses hit a plateau where you have to work a whole bunch more if you want to keep seeing growth, and all that. And it’s all true.

But I never had a gym teacher yell at me for not doing my marketing.