Wednesdays are the days I have a babysitter for the girls and believe you me, I get ALL sorts of business done. I girl boss it all over the place and whittle my giant to-do list down like boom! boom! boom! and I OWN it.
That’s what I wish it was like.
Week after week I am gobsmacked by how quickly time flies and how little I seem to get done. I’m learning that I’m a slow worker. In a world of short order cooks, I’m a crockpot. I like to sit with a project for a bit before I send it out into the world. I rarely sit down and finish anything, even a blog post in one sitting… even if it’s relatively short. I’m finding that space and time are some of the best tools in my editing process. I’m trying to learn to be patient with myself and to realize that productivity doesn’t always equate with quantity. It often feels like I get next to nothing done–but research, thinking, planning, and thinking are all part of what productivity looks like. But it doesn’t feel that way. Recently, I was reading about JK Rowling and I learned that she spent 5 years working out the plot of Harry Potter before ever writing a word of the actual book. In hindsight that was a wildly productive 5 years, but at the time I wonder if she ever felt like she was simply spinning her wheels?
Last Wednesday I was feeling very unproductive, like not even able to waste my time well. You know that feeling right? Then I saw an IG post from The Land of Nod of Charley Harper’s house pop up on my feed and I thought I decided that what I needed to do was put down my pen, paper and frustrations and go and find Charlie’s house, because it’s here. In Cincinnati. On the way out the door I grabbed something I have been working on and feeling a little blah about just in case.
It was a little tricky to find as it’s sorta hidden, but I found it. I had called ahead to the studios–which I think were located at his house at one point, but have since been moved–to make sure it was OK to check it out and they said it should be fine (it’s still privately owned by the Harper family and someone still lives there.) I don’t know what it was about finding that house, but it has filled me with a sense of pride and connection to both Charley Harper and Cincinnati. I was about to leave when I got to the car and saw the stack of work I had brought. I grabbed the pile, took a seat on a bench in the garden and got to work.
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I don’t think I would have sought out Charley’s house had it not been for the Land of Nod’s IG feed that day. Turns out they have a new Charley Harper line they kicked off and they’re headed to Cincinnati this weekend with the Land of Nod tour bus. It’s only appropriate. From what I understand they have some cool swag for the kids including a Charley Harper state bird tote. Of course they’ll have their new product line for people to check out and a Photo Booth at the event on Saturday as well. I’m planning on taking the kids on Saturday and am excited to check it out. Also, you should really check out this video of Todd Oldham interviewing Charley Harper… he seemed like a genuinely nice + down to earth guy. So refreshing for an artist.
My mom was just telling me about stopping by his place… little did I know I've driven past it about a million times throughout my life. I love that his stuff is starting to pop up everywhere and I can't wait to check out their bus at the zoo on Saturday.