February Goals

Ok, so December wasn't a great month for getting things done, and January struggled a bit, too. But I pulled through at the end. (I'm including the first couple days of February as part of January, because it makes this list look a lot better.)

  • Submit to galleries that have January submission dates. Done. Well, to one. The most important one. (There were two with January dates, and the other I'm not as into, so it's cool.)

  • Send image of HSC painting to client. Discuss money, shipping, timelines, etc. Sent image and discussed money. Had previously talked about shipping, and touched on it again. Did not discuss timelines, because they're my nemesis.

  • Photograph valentines and get them out into the digital world. Mostly done. Sunlight has been scarce, but I did get a good photo day right at the end of January. I sent out an email or two about them, and put them on my Etsy, but never did a big email, and still haven't blogged about them.

  • Make confirmations for Bridal Screenprinting class and finish syllabus/materials list. Made confirmations -- the 27th of February at noon -- but still need to finish the actual work part.

  • Get laptop repaired. Got a new laptop for what it would have cost to fix the old one! Yay!

  • Give my truck some love. An oil change, maybe a new turn signal light. I filled the air in the tires (much needed) but still need an oil change and a turn signal.

  • Finish sewing projects for other people that I've had sitting around for way longer than is reasonable. Apologize for keeping them so long. Not done. I'm a jerk.


Ok, enough with the half-hearted accomplishments. On to February's goals:

  • This month is going to be mostly about finishing things I've started. A bulleted list, in no particular order, will suffice:

    • HSC Painting: gotta get it out of my studio

    • Sewing: shirts

    • Sewing: cushions

    • Class planning: materials list, order materials, syllabus, assemble necessary bits

    • Cards: blog about them, damnit... maybe do the card section of the website, too

    • Knotical Invitation Suite: print it, photograph it, post it

    • Gloriously Awash In Sin blog: post something, for crissakes

    • Taxes: this requires me to make sure I've caught up on all my bookkeeping...

    • I feel like I'm missing something... I'll add it when it hits me


  • A separate goal, but one that I hope will help the above, is to wear shoes when I'm working at home (as opposed to just being at home... ah, the challenge of trying to work and not-work in the same space). I've noticed that wearing shoes makes me more productive, perhaps solely for the fact that it keeps me from getting too comfy and curling up to nap on the couch. I wonder if that's just totally weird, or if other work-at-home-ers have found this out, too.

January Goals

December wasn't such a great month for getting things done...

  • Finish HSC painting! Still not quite done. But close.

  • Continue not wasting my life away in front of the computer. Good so far.

  • There are a couple of local galleries whose submission period is during January, so I need to get my packet ready to go. I always 'mean' to submit, but let my procrastination/fear/anxiety get the best of me. Not this year. (Oh please, oh please.) Didn't do it, but I'm going to, I promise.

  • I have a stack of artist registry forms. Once I've got packets together for galleries, it's not much more work to submit to some artist registries. My official goal will be getting 6 of the 8 I've printed out actually sent. Didn't do that either. May or may not do it.

  • I promised some people prints of my work forever ago and never followed through. Get those ordered/sent so they'll get them in time for Christmas. Did it. So at least I feel like less of a jerk.

  • I'm going to be teaching a class (through Paper Zone) on screenprinting wedding invitations in January after the Portland Bridal Show, so I need to fully outline the class syllabus and handouts. I can finish them in early January, but the hard work will need to be done before the last minute. Did it somewhat. Still needs finishing, but very do-able.

  • Photograph Valentine cards. Prepare publicity email(s). Nope. Gets moved to January.

  • Create mural proposal or OSU Engineering department. (Not sure this is going to happen; it will definitely have to take a backseat to the HSC painting.) Didn't happen. I'm ok with that.


Most of this month's goals are unfinished things from last month.
  • Submit to galleries that have January submission dates.


  • Send image of HSC painting to client. Discuss money, shipping, timelines, etc.


  • Photograph valentines and get them out into the digital world.


  • Make confirmations for Bridal Screenprinting class and finish syllabus/materials list.


  • Get laptop repaired.


  • Give my truck some love. An oil change, maybe a new turn signal light.


  • Finish sewing projects for other people that I've had sitting around for way longer than is reasonable. Apologize for keeping them so long.

Monthly Goals: December

Made it through November -- though I certainly had some days that were incredibly trying on a personal level -- but I made it through. (If you're wondering what this is all about, it's called the Monthly Goal Meetup. It is spearheaded by the Modish Biz Tips blog as a way for small creative business owners to stay focused and offer each other moral support and encouragement.)

Here's how I did:
  • Print winter holiday cards. Photograph them. Get them listed on Etsy. Send out email announcing their existence (by November 10th!). Done. I had to reprint one of my designs due to a design brainfart on my part, but I did get them done and announced/listed on the 12th.

  • Finish up shipments to Bluebottle, Wholly Craft, etc. and get them out the door by the 15th. Also done. Out the door on the 18th, and one order already generated a re-order. Yay!

  • Finish printing 2010 Valentines cards and photograph them. If they don't make it into my shipments, that's okay, although it would be awesome if they did. Still have to photograph them, but they did make it into my shipments, so that makes up for it.

  • Blog at least once a week (not counting monthly goals post). Nope. Posted twice. Thought about posting a lot, but didn't. Story of my life.

  • Spend more quality time, less time total, on the computer/internet. Somewhat successful. Focused on not ending up in front of the computer in the evenings unless I had a specific task, and that worked. Spent a little more quality time with A and the animals.

  • Figure out what I'm doing with painting versus paper goods. Launching a separate wedding invitation shop/webpage/company? Integrating it more into my overall studio umbrella and focusing more on painting as my 'main' thing? Paper goods will be splitting off from Carly Bodnar Studio to become Phaedra Paperie. The webpage is partially built, and I've set up an Etsy and a Gmail account... but how serious I get about it is currently in limbo pending changes at my day job. Ah, the artist and the day job. The eternal struggle.

  • Finish HSC commissioned painting. Eh... definitely did some work on it. But it's definitely not done. Damnit.

  • List recent drawings and works on paper on Etsy. I still have more I could list, but I got all of the ones I've posted on Gloriously Awash in Sin listed on Etsy. That was the essence of that goal, so I'm calling it a win.


Now on to December's goals:
  • Finish HSC painting!

  • Continue not wasting my life away in front of the computer.

  • There are a couple of local galleries whose submission period is during January, so I need to get my packet ready to go. I always 'mean' to submit, but let my procrastination/fear/anxiety get the best of me. Not this year. (Oh please, oh please.)

  • I have a stack of artist registry forms. Once I've got packets together for galleries, it's not much more work to submit to some artist registries. My official goal will be getting 6 of the 8 I've printed out actually sent.

  • I promised some people prints of my work forever ago and never followed through. Get those ordered/sent so they'll get them in time for Christmas.

  • I'm going to be teaching a class (through Paper Zone) on screenprinting wedding invitations in January after the Portland Bridal Show, so I need to fully outline the class syllabus and handouts. I can finish them in early January, but the hard work will need to be done before the last minute.

  • Photograph Valentine cards. Prepare publicity email(s).

  • Create mural proposal or OSU Engineering department. (Not sure this is going to happen; it will definitely have to take a backseat to the HSC painting.)