2 posts tagged “web design”

Kind of a rough day at work yesterday - my favorite colleague got laid off and it was her last day, and work just sucked. It was one of those sucky days. Plus I felt fat all day. Like ALL day.

But, I'm feeling less fat today, and I'm thinking about all the things I have to look forward to - first of all my business cards are en-route! I'm stalking them on the Fed Ex tracking site like they're Brad and Angelina and I work for Stars! Right now they're in Maspeth, NY! They're on the truck for delivery! Hopefully someone at my building will sign for those puppies...

Also - this week is all about the skills for me  - I've decided to sign up for a class in web design. I think it's something that will be vital to my business as it will be mostly an online thing at first. I've been frustrated with my inability to deal with my website on my own and I want to change that. I want to be able to design things and update them and be more in control of getting my work out there. I'm looking at some classes through Parsons School of Design. Does anyone have any experience with those classes?

Next skill - embroidery. I am getting a book on this and going to get super good at it instantly so that I can embroider some of the dog tees. This should be easier than the time I bought a book on wed design and thought I'd instantly get good at that. Embroidery: Get a book; Wed Design: take a class.

Also, I got invited to a holiday party that a prop stylist that I know is throwing. He's this awesome Italian guy. Very intense. And he has a friend/neighbor who has a dog couture business... I'm going to try to charm her and get her to be my mentor...

Lots of things in the works! Just the way I like it. BTW, my biz cards are still in Maspeth... I wish they had Twitter and could give me an update. Although it would probably be: We are in a box. Stop stalking us.

On the writing front: For some reason Laundromats can be amazing places for getting writing done. My laundromat is 2 blocks away - just far enough that it doesn't make sense to leave my clothes there while they're washing and then come back to put them in the dryer. So I just sit there and bring a notepad and whatever project I'm currently working on. Because it's not a coffee shop I don't feel self-conscious - like one of those pretentious people working on their screenplay at Starbucks. There's also a time limit - the wash cycle and then the dry cycle - so it's somehow easier to focus. Plus there is no shortage of interesting characters if you're looking for one - the 70 yr old woman selling the detergent with the 3" long gold fingernails, the little boy running around pretending to shoot all the washing machines, the guy in the cheap suit flirtatiously offering all the women fabric softener.

So needless to say I got a lot done at the laundromat. I set myself the simple goal of trying to put together an outline of the rest of the screenplay I'm working on and with each scene write at least one line of dialog. One line of course turned into two, and three and all of a sudden I've got 7 notebook pages full. I may not use all of it, but I've gotten my brain, and my pen,wrapped around the rest of what I need to do.

I feel like with these writing projects, both the novel and the screenplay, and even the short stories that I write, I've been shying away from actually finishing them because I'm terrified of the next step. I'm terrified to take my work out into the world - to agents, to editors, to anyone. What if I put it out there and it's just not good enough? Lately though this idea is less scary to me than the idea of never finishing anything, never putting anything out there.

On the dog tees front: I have two amazing dog models lined up. The tees get here on the 28th, so I'll set up my photo shoots with the dogs after that. Also, the web design book that I ordered, Learning Web Design, has arrived! Now I just need to read it... and understand it...     

One more thing, To the bugs in my apartment: I'm calling my landlord. It may be unsportsman like, but you also may be an alien species and I really don't have time to deal with you.                                                                                                                                     

Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to (X)HTML, StyleSheets, and Web Graphics