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This is the blog home of #kidlitart, a live Twitter chat Thursdays at 9:00 pm Eastern, for children's book illustrators, picture book authors, author/illustrators and friends. Check back weekly to read transcripts, comment on previous chats and suggest topics for upcoming chats.


Friday, October 15, 2010

Transcript: 10/14/10

TOPIC: How do you set realistic goals for yourself and realistic schedules for your clients?

Observations:

A big issue is scheduling personal projects; client projects have deadlines, which makes them easier to schedule--and when client projects come in, they always trump personal work

Loss of momentum can be a killer---it's hard to jump back into the game

Switching gears takes time--it's difficult to pick up work for just an hour or two if you know you're going to be interrupted

On the other hand, you can lose huge chunks of time to the artistic "zone"--that alternate reality that causes you to have to re-engage with real life

If the deadline is off in the future, you tend to work more slowly; closer deadlines mean more productive work

Many need to "schedule" hobbies, exercise; try five-minute exercise breaks while working

It's hard to visulaize how long a project will actually take to complete

It's easy to find yourself working too hard and accomplishing too little

If your life is out of control, it's hard to draw sweet, happy characters

It can be easier to streamline the mundane tasks (errands, housework) than to try to streamline your illustration process

It's particularly hard to balance two creative pursuits: iluustrating and writing, for instance--you seem to be pulled one direction or the other

Tips:

If multi-tasking is required, try to designate chunks of time to each project; assign different projects different days; or make sure projects have different deadlines, especially in concept phase

Learn to say "no"--to clients and to unrealistic deadlines

Make lists and stick to them

Remind yourself that you actually enjoy drawing (!)

Ask clients for budget and timeframe up front, then include in contract

Try to be happy with what you did today, rather than worrying about all you didn't get done

Break big goals into smaller ones

Rid yourself of "easy distractions"--like iPod games

Links:

Article in The New Yorker on procrastination

Video with fun advice about tackling the most onerous jobs first

Basecamp project management software

Tweet of the night:
@alistaps: "Realistic goals - I meditate and journal lots to make sure I'm tapped into my heart's agenda.. my brain gets too tyrannical ;)"

Full transcript below:

#kidlitart 10-14-10

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