thoughts after a year of crowdfunding

[meeks]

April 11th marked the first anniversary of my crowdfunding debut, and it was probably the most consistently busy year I've ever had. I've posted over 150 paintings and sketches, received thousands of feedback comments, unexpectedly won a Rose and Bay award, and met a lot of really creative people. I've sold prints, done private commissions, and received tips from over a dozen generous patrons, including three K-fans, each of whom contributed over $120 to my various art projects over the last year. The Kickstarter campaign for my first picture book exceeded it's funding goal and raised over $11000. Your support and enthusiasm has far surpassed my expectations. Thank you all!

As you have undoubtedly noticed by now, the Story Sketches project has been largely dormant for a couple of months, but fear not! I have no intention of abandoning it. I've been sort of waiting for my workload to lighten, but after taking stock of my plans for the next year, it's become clear that that isn't really going to happen. The challenge is to figure out how to manage more than one ongoing project at a time, and I appreciate the patience you've all shown while I try to work out a solution.

I know that several of you are balancing multiple projects and/or offline jobs and families, and it's encouraging to know that it can be done — I just have to come up with a better workflow than

• start working on something


• receive message about another thing to be done, start working on it


• get distracted by a third thing


• belatedly remember what I was working on in the first place


• repeat :P

The best approach for me will probably be to divide tasks by project (e.g. Story Sketches, EDST, Torn World, self-promotion, one-shot commission) and/or by type (e.g. research, drawing, technical, writing, design) and pick one category to focus on at the beginning of each work day, depending on the relative urgency of each and the number and type of spoons I wake up with. This could result in more image-only posts (with text to be added later), or making several posts at once instead of uploading each picture as I finish it.

Participating in SketchFest (run by champion multitasker ellenmillion —Thanks, Ellen!) has shown that I can be very productive within a limited time period, so I may try to apply this model to other types of activity. Setting a timer while I work on posts like this, for instance, will hopefully stop me from spending days on composing and editing an informal piece of text that my writer friends probably wouldn't spend more than a few minutes on. :P I'm sure I had more to say, but this post has been in-progress for nearly a week(!) which is long even for me, and I expect to be afk for most of tomorrow, so, ah...consider it a 'sketch'? ^_^;

If those of you who are more organized than I am have any advice, I would certainly appreciate it!

Comments

Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>April 11th marked the first anniversary of my crowdfunding debut, and it was probably the most consistently busy year I've ever had.<<

Congratulations. I'm sorry I missed the exact date. I remember that one of your goals was to do more artwork, that you needed input and thought crowdfunding might work. Looks like it did!

>>I've sold prints, done private commissions, and received tips from over a dozen generous patrons, including three K-fans, each of whom contributed over $120 to my various art projects over the last year.<<

W00T! I'm thrilled to see you racking up k-fans. I think that's a sign of a successful project. Really, you invented a new kind of project, in terms of linking to extant projects by creating new content for them in ways that would connect different audience pools.

>>As you have undoubtedly noticed by now, the Story Sketches project has been largely dormant for a couple of months, but fear not!<<

I have missed seeing those.

>>I just have to come up with a better workflow than<<

I've spent, well, my entire life working on that issue. It's just my nature to be attracted by new things, moving things. Learning to finish stuff has been the challenge. But I've figured out that if something can hold my interest, it will usually hold an editor's interest too.

One of the ways I keep myself focused on an ongoing project is just repeating that this is what makes me a professional and some other people amateurs. Determination to stick with something. Dunno if that particular lever will work for you or not, but you might be able to find something that does.

>>The best approach for me will probably be to divide tasks by project (e.g. Story Sketches, EDST, Torn World, self-promotion, one-shot commission) and/or by type (e.g. research, drawing, technical, writing, design) and pick one category to focus on at the beginning of each work day, depending on the relative urgency of each and the number and type of spoons I wake up with.<<

Yes, that works. The trick is to figure out what kind of divisions you need; that is, what impacts your work flow or wears you out. So for instance, I'll consider whether or not a project pays, and what type of work it is (fiction, poetry, editing, etc.). If I do too much of one thing, I'll burn out on it and need to switch to something different.

So last year's project was boosting your workflow. You've done that. This year, I suggest examining how you feel about your work and what causes it to flow better or worse. That will help you figure out how to manage different projects together.

Oh, and pad your deadlines if you have them. Shit always happens. Any time-sensitive plans need to account for that. I learned that from being a procrastinator, except I hate having to do things at the last minute, so I wound up adapting to finish them early. Ironic, eh.

Also worth tracking is the popularity and/or profitability of different projects. For instance, I prioritize the Poetry Fishbowl because it's really popular and my second-highest-paying gig. Torn World doesn't pay much but it's a steady market to get stuff published and is good practice not just for writing but also for people skills. Lower priority, but worth keeping. Figure out what your different projects do for you and that may help you organize them.

[clare_dragonfly]

Wow, has it only been a year? Congratulations! I hope for many more! :D

And good luck working out a schedule/workflow/whatever it is that works for you! Anything that results in more art from you is something I can support ;) (if not necessarily monetarily...)