Sustainability. Go Green! Living Principles. These keywords and concepts have been circulating the news, business communities, and social media sites. But what do they really mean? And what do they mean for you? How can these concepts affect what you do and how you practice your life and career choices as artists, designers, photographers, business people and members of society.

Terms such as Going Green may sound merely like buzzwords, perhaps a passing trend . . . but I think it’s become apparent to the majority of us that people need to work together to make a difference for a collective good. I believe that most agree, we can no longer stand idly by and hope for the best without investing our own hard work and initiatives. We are the ambassadors of our planet.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AIGA CONNECTICUT

CONTACT:
Lisa Mikulski – Director of Communications and Public Relations
Email:  communications@connecticut.aiga.org
Web:   www.connecticut.aiga.org
Phone: 260.227.5472

Calling all designers, artists, entrepreneurs and students . . . check out our upcoming events at AIGA Connecticut. From a warm breakfast to Living Principles, we’ve created a blizzard of activity to inspire your winter days. All events are open to the public.

So here it is, the third and last installment of Things I Love, Things I Hate, and Things of Which I Aspire. Having completed this first round of exercises for my journal, I see there is a lot for me to look forward to. It was kind of nice to see all these positive things written out on paper . . . it seems to make it more official in some way. I’m pleased to know that the things I love and the things of which I aspire far outnumber the things I hate.

As expected, renewing my vows to keeping a daily journal has been really fulfilling (in many ways) and even in only 3 weeks of daily note keeping, I’ve gone to new places of knowing. I’m also happy to report that several of the items on this very list are now goals and tasks that are in the works. So far, I’m writing well over 1000 words a day and while I haven’t hit that 20 hours of reading per week, I’m feeling pretty good as a writer and won’t give up on the reading part of the program (I just need to target the time better and maybe get up a bit earlier in the morning). Do you keep a journal? What are your aspirations and how do you plan on making them come true?

Happiness is not a right. It must be pursued.

In keeping with my daily journaling experience, I began with a small exercise of listing Things I Love, Things I Hate, and Things of Which I Aspire to. I found this, while an extremely simple exercise, to be quite enlightening because the point of my journal is not to impress anyone. It’s a private place, solely for me (and I guess upon occasion, for you.)  My search was for answers that were honest and when I was writing about things I love, I discovered that I was listing some things because I felt I was ‘suppose’ to love them. Deleting those false items from the list and replacing them with things I really loved was freeing and insightful. It took me to a new place of knowing.

Nearly every Sunday, my friend Casey would send me an email to say hello. Attached was always a photo of something wonderful and extraordinary. Now Casey’s blog, artandcolour, has been nominated for a Blogger’s Choice Award. Please visit and enjoy artandcolour (and maybe even vote). Casey shares with us his thoughts on book design, photography, wildflowers, cars, his family history and his life. Well written and executed, you’ll love this site.? Simply beautiful!

IS A WEBSITE STILL REALLY NECESSARY?

How many marketing tools do we need? There seems to be thousands, maybe millions, of social media outlets, third-party portfolio sites, creative community endeavors and they all seem to be screaming about why they are the ticket to make your online marketing arsenal complete.

We are told that we need a website, a blog, a Facebook account, Twitter, Linkedin and don’t forget the other myriad of sites that add to the mix. We are told we need self branding (a logo and ID), SEO functionality and that we should network, network, network!! Good lord, who has the time? Do we really need all this to sell our product and services? Well, yeah we do. We’re in business and as such it’s expected that we put in more than the pre-requsite 9-5pm work day. So, no more complaining about Facebook or time limitations.  Don’t wanna hear how you’re an artist and all you want to do is make art. Marketing is a part of what needs to be done. It’s like paperwork, administration, taxes and brushing your teeth . . . you need to do it, so let’s figure out the best way to handle all these reigns.

Awhile ago I wrote about the fun and benefits of keeping a journal. That post was about how keeping an actual handwritten, 3-dimensional notebook can help a gal or guy with creativity and personal insight. At the same time, it become apparent to me that I needed some type of system for keeping all my professional writing assignments organized. While I was using a word processing application for writing articles and reviews, I had photos in one folder, contact names in another, notes in another. This was very inefficient. I wanted everything in one spot . . . one stop shopping, so to speak. So I went in search of some software applications that could help writers organize and sort their blog posts, articles and notes.  I have also included some more robust applications for those of you who might be writing your next novel or e-book.

This was an interesting little exercise. I decided I needed to go to a happy place and so gave myself the exercise of writing down all the things I love. The exercise was interesting because the list is honest and gave me space to really think about things that make my heart sing rather then the things I’m obligated to love. This list does indeed make me happy. So here they are. Things I love, in no particular order: