Meet Me Halfway

So, here's a little joke that I stole from my sister's blog:

There's a devout man who prays to God every day. Every day, he gets down on his knees and asks, "Dear Lord, please let this week be the week that I win the lottery. Thank you. Amen." He does this every day for years. He never loses his faith. One day, he gets down on his knees once again and asks, "Dear Lord, please let this week be the week that I win the lottery." After all these years, God finally feels like He must intervene. He appears before the man and says, "Hey, I'll do whatever I can, but you have to meet me halfway. At least buy a lottery ticket!"

Well, I found that the Universe was giving me one of those "Meet Me Halfway" messages a few weeks ago. I had missed a deadline for submitting my work to a publisher, and I felt terrible about it. But there was nothing else to be done - I had just started my new job over at Beading Daily, I was trying to get my son ready for his summer preschool sessions (preschool, already!) and we were trying to keep up with the massive amounts of produce coming out of the gardens. (Nightly pickling and canning sessions so that we have vegetables all winter long!) 

So I was very surprised when I got an email that included an extension in the deadline! I knew that I needed excellent photographs of my work, so I quickly emailed my friend Nancy Dale over in Vermont. She and her husband Sherwood Lake had offered to take some photographs of my work - Sherwood is a professional photographer! I quickly packed up eight pieces of my favorite beadwork and sent them off.

I was delighted with the images that came back to me:

 

I won't know for sure whether or not any of the pieces actually make it into the book, but even if they don't, now I have some professional quality photographs of some of my favorite work!

I think it was Woody Allen who said that 80% of success is just showing up. Even if my pieces aren't selected for the book, I showed up. I think that a lot of creative success is exactly that - just doing the work. If you don't make the stuff that's not-so-good, then you won't be able to move through it to the great stuff. If you don't send in your applications for art shows and craft shows, then you won't be accepted.

Now go into your studio and MAKE STUFF!