Musing #3 Raising My Hand

Okay, so I've told you about the trashion I create and my store. I've probably sounded a bit mechanical and stiff. Bear with a new blogger who is new to raising her hand.

Here is a little about me, Annie, the person--I'm a creative soul who is also a wife, and a mother of 2 children who are elementary school age. I call my store Annie's Obsessive Compulsive Designs because I want everyone to own a piece of my OCD. Fortunately, I don't really suffer from this painful disorder in the clinical sense; I suffer from a warped sense of humor and a love of word play. You will see lots of words sprinkled throughout my creations.

I'm dreading the start of school. I've enjoyed the lack of schedule and my ability to devote my spare time to creating more and marketing my mixed media jewelry. Back to the reality of multi-tasking.

A realist I am not. I had a vision when I first began that all I needed to do was to upload my pictures to my site and...Voila success would arrive with arms wide open. (Sort of how I thought my baby would sleep through the night right away and I could fit back into my jeans days after birth). Wouldn't you know realism reared its ugly head and I found had to promote myself. Ewww.

Promote myself? I had flashbacks to tedious in-home parties of women selling their wares-well housewares to their "guests". The guests feeling pressured into buying unwanted wares. Icky. I envisioned an entire class with hands outstretched, fingers waggling, bodies straining, voices shouting "OOH ! OOH! Pick Me! Pick Me!"

After getting over the initial horror of the concept I thought-- Hm mm......well why not raise your hand if you want to contribute? You don't need to be obnoxious about it. At 38 years of age it was time for me to redefine the word "self promotion."

So calmly, confidently, kindly, supportively I raise my hand to promote what I, and other artists, have to contribute. (See the photo above-this is my photoshopped version of the porcelain hand I use in all my photos).

Thanks for reading my ramblings for today.

Annie