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How was the first half of the year for you? Mine was busy and productive, thank you. I certainly would like to have a few days totally off, but things are not always the way we wanted them to be, so here I am trying to organize myself in order to get what I planned for the second half of the year done.

It is also time to start looking for some “year from now” deals and opportunities. This is a tiring move, as you have to make plans based on probabilities. However, there is no way to move on to real actions without going through the sphere of intentions. What do I mean by that?

Intentions are all those messages you send that are not always answered. Intentions are also the projects that you put together in your head, but mostly will not survive the shock of reality. I, for example, often put together imaginary tours that work great in my mind, but have little bearing on my budget reality.

For these and other reasons, the second half of the year is a time for desk work, which means hard work, but no visibility. To tell the truth, moderate levels of invisibility are welcome from time to time. They are perfect for health check ups and treatments for the hair and skin, deeply mistreated by stage make-up and curling iron.

The problem is the hard work itself, that is, how to manage it in an intelligent, productive way. More precisely: how to build up an effective work routine without deadlines?

Say what you will about the oppressive nature of deadlines, but they guarantee that the job gets done. Without them, I oscillate between a mindset of “work, work, work and work” and “hey, how about finally watching that movie from your must see list?”

I am not only talking about indulging yourself to a little bit of laziness on a Thursday afternoon, but also about being awere that, well, it is now or never. As soon as the first booking confirmation arrives, the pre-production process begins, the deadlines pop up, and you can forget about finishing that one book that has been living on your bedside for ages, much less watch that 2016 movie that everyone was talking about… in 2016.

Maybe this mismatch between “take a break” and “you have a lot of work to do” comes from my current difficulty getting restorative sleep. I may not be in the position to give you any advice, but what the heck! So here it goes: my five items list of little tricks that usually work:

  1. every time you feel guilty about an afternoon nap, think about how many times you worked on Sundays, holidays, including Christmas and carnival;
  2. do not, I repeat, do not take your cell phone everywhere with you all the time and, if possible, leave it far away from your bed, to avoid falling into the temptation of “quickly checking what time it is”, and end up up hearing the alarm clock go off with your eyes wide open, after pointless spending the night reading posts on socials.
  3. some of the symptoms of a bad night of sleep can be avoided with careful hydration during the following day, so do not forget: drink water!
  4. your energy is not one hundred percent proportional to the number of cups of coffee you drink throughout the day, but maybe your heartburn is, so go easy on the coffee, will you?
  5. mint or lemongrass tea can work miracles in some cases and are woth trying.

Now to that 2016 movie.

Be seeing you!

G.F.

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The first time I dealt with “fine art” here, I spoke about the importance of curatorship for any project. Today I would like to deal with a related theme, or rather, the next step: what to do with those projects that have been curated by you and were sent to some call, but which were not selected.

The situation is not pleasant at all. Any process of submitting an artistic project to any selection is a very laborious task, both from an intellectual and emotional point of view. There are always forms to fill out, documents to send, audio samples or videos to edit… It is exhausting and takes a lot of your time. When we finally get to the end of the process, and after gathering everything we have been asked to do and double-checking that all the links work and that the spelling is correct, there is a lot of relief involved.

I am not certain “relief” is the best word in this case. Perhaps “mission accomplished” best describes the feeling of triumphantly hitting the “send” button. But life goes on and there are always other tasks awaiting, So you go on minding your own business, until that moment arrives: suddenly, you realize that the next edition of that festival you submitted for months ago is about to happen, and the chances you will part of the lineup are, well, zero.

It is a difficult moment and it takes time to get over it. The good news is that the more time passes and the number of wins also increases, the more easily you see the small defeats as less important parts of the game. You also learn that the important thing is to keep playing the game.

Okay, so you have learned your lesson and you want to stay in the game. Good! This is where I can help you with a lesson I learned from customizing and recycling my clothes: no piece of clothing is useless. The half-forgotten piece in the back of your closet only needs repurposing. Believe me, it always works!

You know that dress that one day gave you so much joy? It can turn into a skirt and bring you even more happiness in the future! Same goes for that now-forgotten pair of pants that might turn into your favorite shorts next summer. T-shirts? They are a world in themselves! Cloth leftovers, sequins, embroidery, anything goes to make Tee look just like you.

In the same way, maybe that project that has not been accepted in a selection (yet), would become simply irresistible with a few small changes here and there. It all starts by re-reading your project again. As good as it might be, there will always be room for some change.

Perhaps the main objectives are not very clear and you can go into further details. Sometimes the problem is just the opposite: too many details. In this case, you need to better condense your ideas and get straight to the point. Another item that always deserves a review is the target audience: is it clear who your project is for? Updating your budget may also be a good idea. Are the costs the same? In the case of tours. extra attention with food and transportation.

As you can see, even without changing its main objectives or compromising its artistic integrity, the possibilities of adapting the same project to different calls are many, and the gain in terms of time is enormous. Upgrading both your wardrobe and your career can be easier (and faster) than you think.

Be seeing you!

G.F.