Sometimes I'm wrong, and that's ok
Something that is always true is that there is rarely one way to do anything and I’m of the opinion there is rarely a best way to get anything done.
To give one example, when it comes to food and drink, some people really value savouring each bite and taking their time. This is undeniably a totally fine way to eat. However, sometimes you’re starving, or super thirsty, and just ripping into a meal or some water feels perfect. It’s probably a bit less healthy, but it’s not a wrong or worse way to do things. There’s a unique pleasure in slowing down, and there’s a unique pleasure in doing things quickly.
When it comes to making books or art, I’m a bit of a speedy guy, which is sometimes a bit unfashionable. There’s a prevailing logic in the part of art making I’m in that more time spent working on something results in greater quality, and I think that’s just too simple. For sure that can be true, but equally it isn’t always true, otherwise no one would ever finish anything.
Like eating food, sometimes a slower approach works really well, and more consideration and thinking leads to a higher quality book, piece of art, etc. On the other hand, sometimes being in the flow, striking while the iron’s hot and immersing oneself quickly and wholly leads to noticeable improvements and completions.
For me, I am very much of the second option. I like to leave long periods between making photos or books and then be totally in it. I would rather set aside one 8 hour day then four 2 hour days. For me, and how I work, being saturated leads to good results. Usually.
But recently, that was wrong. For our last book of the year there was a window where I wanted it published. There are a number of book fairs coming up and I was pushing to get the book done so I could sell it at those fairs. However, we had several serious printing set backs and a bit of complexity in how the artist and I were working. This meant that a more fast-paced approach was just creating more stress and costing us more. Anytime something needs to get done more quickly things get a bit more pricey.
The artist convinced me to wait, to put this project on hold and give it up to 12 months before it comes out. They helped me see that this, while not ideal, would likely make life a bit easier for all. The hecticity of trying to get things done had helped us see what we needed and what would be a sticking point and, therefore, extra time would help us find a workflow that would provide us with the results we wanted and a process that felt more certain.
This really grated me for a bit. I was quite annoyed - we’ve been working on this for ages, have had this production window for months and yet couldn’t manage to get things across the line. How infuriating!! Sometimes I can get a bit too fixed on deadlines, but also deadlines are what allows me to plan the business and travel so that there’s a good chance a book will have a big splash.\
But, in this case, stubbornly pushing forward just wasn’t working.
So, it’s ok to be wrong sometimes, loathe as I am to admit it, in this one case, slowing down will result in a better outcome. It’s a bit annoying, but that’s ok. The flip side is that I can breathe a bit more easily and put that money in the bank for next year.
This means I’m unlikely to hit my sales goal for the year, but without spending more money on printing that’s ok :)
In other news:
I’m teaching my last publishing and book making workshop for the year in November, in Melbourne. This is a really popular workshop that covers: book binding, book design, self-publishing, editing, sequencing, budgeting, etc. It’s a two day masterclass and always a bunch of fun. It’s for sale now at an early bird price here. Next week the price will rise so please get in quick if you want to save some cash :)