Thinking Digital

 

Craw Stane located in Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.  Photo by KPS 2016.

A few years ago, my guru friend made an excellent suggestion to me – he was speaking about dealing with photos to be added to things like my blog. “Don't think about them as physical sizes” he said. “Think in pixels.”

I knew that he was right. But it's something I've never been able to do. I work with my hands. I am sort of capable of abstract thought. If you are talking spiritual things I'm good with it. But when you get into physics, quantum, digital...the things that are both physical and abstract? I'm afraid I'm lost.

It's all a portion of what has kept me from delving any further into the digital. It makes me uncomfortable. I don't quite understand it. It's like the phrase in the They Might Be Giants song: “And I've often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well
And that's be you,
Be what you're like,
Be like yourself,
And so I'm having a wonderful time
But I'd rather be whistling in the dark “

Whistling in the dark is a pretty good description of how I feel about my forays into the digital world. I'm having a wonderful time...I actually am – I liked the feel of progress on the projects. I liked learning what I did. It felt like I was doing something, really making an effort. But I still can't say I actually understand it.

I've learned that the way around thinking in pixels is to find out what each site's suggested parameters are. Both in pixels and in aspect ratios. Then, just follow them to the best of your ability. It meant looking things up, making cheat sheets, learning how to use a program better, It meant finally realizing that I had to make a system for cataloguing images, both raw and manipulated. Creating files, rules for titles, lists of where things got stored. It made me realize that some photos, no matter how “good” they might be, just won't fit, they are not useful for certain applications and need to be retaken.

It has also meant learning how to break up work cycles. Digital is not something I can – or should – throw myself into the way I've done with other things. No working for 10 hours at a stretch because you are in the flow. I've still got a lot to lean on that front, but the cheat sheets and lists have helped. Strangely, for me, thinking digital has meant pages of notes and handwritten lists and lots of new files – both physical and digital. For me, everything digital seems to be a workaround, precisely because I don't really understand it.

It has done a lot of good. It has forced me to make headway, take stock of what I have and how I have it organized. It has made me think about better ways for things – from doing to storing. It has made me realize I need to go through the images I have and catalogue them (including my 3 trips to Europe...that feels like a lifetime project.) It has taught me to take better photographs. I have learned much more about how to manipulate them, though I still only do the barest bit of what is possible.

Above all, it has made me face the unknown and the uncertain. It has made me poke at things that make me uncomfortable, figure out how to handle them at least a little. It has made me more aware of the vast swaths of things I don't know about...and forced me to really admit to myself that I don't have to understand them fully, but I shouldn't pretend I can ignore them. (I tend to be a bit of an all or nothing girl.) It has increased my respect for those who work well in the fields, and actually do understand all this stuff. I can't say I understand them, but I respect them for doing the work I can't and don't like to do.

So, while I am much happier holding a hammer, a pair of pliers or a shovel than a mouse (not the live squeaky kind, those I'm fine with,) I guess I have to thank this journey for all it has given me. It may not be my proverbial cup of tea, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't put the kettle on.

Digital Ventures - Patreon and E-Commerce

 Here we are in January (well, February now...it was January when I wrote this.)– a whole new year, filled with potential, possiblity, and yes, still haunted by the pandemic. While I'm not happy about the pandemic, and the multitude of challenges it presents to everyone, I am grateful for having gotten the last ten months (and probably the next ten to twelve) to be here, at home. The time at home has allowed me to really begin to dig my toes into the dirt here, and start to delve into work I really want to do. It has helped me to have enough space and quiet in my brain to be able to form both a picture, and a plan. 

A booth I shared with Darrell at the International Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo a few years back.  Not something I'll be able to do again for quite a long time....Photo by Darrell Markewitz.

 

If I truly want to start to shift the balance of my working life from 85% theatre/15% Elfworks (that's at a rough guess – I haven't done any math on that.) then I also have to begin to shift my income possibilities. That has always been clear to me. How to make it happen is the mystery. It still is, but having had some time to consider, I'm exploring possibilities. I don't expect it will happen quickly, if it ever does, but I'm slowly coming around – and finding that I have the time – to give it a genuine effort. With time, I'd like to shift it to at least 50/50, maybe even further with theatre taking up only say 25% as an eventual goal. The truth is that as much as I love the theatre, the split life is beginning to wear me out...it takes a lot of energy to live in 2 places – especially when you don't really have a home base in the one it feels like you spend more than half your time in.

So, how does one go about making that shift – especially in the midst of a global pandemic? The answer in part, of course, is to expand your digital footprint and hope it successfully generates some income. This, of course, is not as easy as it sounds. Nor are there any guarantees – the internet is a huge open marketplace, and it means competing with the whole world. It also takes a dedicated amount of time and effort just to get it going, never mind maintaining it, monitoring it, adjusting it... Then of course there is simple fact that almost everyone else is trying to do the same thing, as a way to supplement, generate or replace their income. To put a topping on this particular cake – I'm not good at it. I know the bare minimums of what I need to know to do any given thing digitally. And computers often don't like me, as I'm sure I've mentioned.

The digital world can be a big, scary place. The ground shifts underfoot constantly. The learning curves come fast and often. It is wide open to all kinds of people, and the potential for all kinds of unknowns – both good and bad. While it is easy to get lost, there is really no place to hide...and while I'm fine with having a public face, I treasure my privacy.

I've resisted wading into the digital pool too deeply for any number of reasons, but it is time. I've had an Etsy site for a while, but that, too, is a very busy playground.  (Etsy Shop Link) So, I've been building. I'm writing more for this blog, and actually remembering to post what I write with greater regularity. I'm trying to use facebook more (Facebook Page Link)– actually post on a more regular basis. I've started an Instagram account (Instagram Link) – which as a side bonus will force me to do more photographic documentation than I normally do. Not to mention I will actually have to take a critical look at and process those photos, and file them in some sort of orderly fashion. That has to be a good thing, right?

As I do that I will work to beef up my Etsy site and get some new product on there. I am not planning to duplicate the product on the Etsy site onto the  e-commerce site - different pieces will stock each site. 

So that is a beginning. Thanks to a program being offered by the Ontario government just now, I'm also working on an e-commerce site all my own. (For information on the Digital Main Street/ShopHere program, go here: https://programs.digitalmainstreet.ca/)  I'm hoping that the new site will be live by mid-February.

Along with that I've decided to create a Patreon page. Now, Patreon is something that was brought to my attention years ago, by several people. I looked at it when I was made aware of it. I thought it was a great idea – for other people. I could see how it could work really well for creators of digital content, “visual artists” (painters etc.), writers, all sorts of people. I couldn't see how I could possibly fit there. That, and I didn't think there was any reason why people should want to become a patron for me. Not that I think what I do doesn't have value, more that I had trouble with the idea of making that pan out in some sort of physical (monetary) form other than buying a product.

In the years since, it has sat in the back of my mind, being turned over on occasion, re-examined and then ultimately re-buried.

I was searching for something on the web about 8 months ago, and I followed a sideline to the site of an author/editor that I admire. https://www.terriwindling.com/

There, on the side of Terri Windling's page, was a little statement about her Patreon page and her reasoning for it – I clicked on the link to allow me to read what she had written. Suddenly, it began to come into some kind of focus that I could fit - somehow. It would just take some thought. You can read the writing that inspired me here:

https://www.terriwindling.com/blog/2017/11/patreon-launch.html

Reading what she had written brought a lump to my throat. Terri Windling shy about a Patreon page? It all struck a chord, and somehow, gave me the push I needed to see if I could make it work. Thinking about it now, it seems rather backwards. I'm not putting myself in the same league as this person I admire, not by a long shot, but whatever the reason, reading that explanation opened a pathway for me. Over the last number of months I've toyed with the idea, formulating and rejecting things I thought might be feasible for the venue. How could I do this and actually offer content that I thought was worth contributions from persons unknown? If I chose to use product, how could I structure it to be sure that I would cover shipping costs, not having any clue what they might be? How would I make the numbers work to be sure that I wasn't adding more work to my plate, but ending up with an unequal monetary exchange? How could I do all this and still make it affordable, and not feel like I was asking people to give me something for nothing? Was there a way for me to not set myself up for failure – make it enticing but not promise the moon and fail to deliver?

It wasn't until November or December that I came up with a plan that I could be comfortable with. As I worked, I found myself getting excited. I had started from a standpoint of “how on earth can I create enough regularly scheduled content to make this work?” I realized that this could be a huge opportunity for me.

While I have been getting better about posting on this blog, it has taken me time to get more convinced that I have something to say. I've always loved writing, and in the last while I've gotten back to doing more of it. I had never stopped, but the frequency had fallen off, and it all became more and more private – and I became more tentative about it. As I've begun to write more, a lot more, I've remembered how much I love it.

Another thing I won't be able to do anytime soon is my theatre work.  My dear departed friend Georges Molnar pictured as "The Bear".  Photographer unknown.

 

I realized that Patreon could be a place for all the writing that doesn't fit here, and more. It could be my motivation to really dig into the research that I want to do but there seems to be no reason for. All those alleys that I travel from idea to product, all the threads that wend off into their own rabbit hole worlds could be collected and developed and have a home.

The more I thought about it, and the more I started to really work on the writing I was doing for my “About” page for Patreon, the more excited I got. Whether or not it ever helps me to make a living, it is a place to explore all the avenues I've neglected. As much as I enjoy pursuing knowledge for its own sake, there is a limit to how much I can motivate myself to gather it all together from cryptic notes on slips of paper into cohesive presentations when I don't have a venue for them.

When I restarted this blog, I chose to take it down a different pathway, and yes, I can put some of that here – and I will, as I continue to write more. What Patreon has given me is a vision – not one of monetary gain so much as a home for my voice that is both public and private. This blog will be here for me to keep voicing my thoughts as they pertain to the evolution of Elfworks in both an inner and outer nature. If anyone wants more, there will be other places for them to go that are still Elfworks Studios, and if anyone chooses to help Elfworks Studios evolve with a financial contribution, Patreon gives them a place to do that.Patreon Link