I wrote yesterday about the humiliation of hearing some of those juggled balls come crashing down. A few more will hit the floor before my balancing act is reestablished.
But a ray of hope comes through.
I am not alone.
Two weeks ago, I e-mailed a book editor, informing them I would not be able to meet the deadline for a project submission. I actually roiled in humiliation on THAT one--it's the first time I've ever had to back out of a project for this publisher, and it was painful.
He wrote back with an extended deadline--would that work. I simply said, "I'll try" and went back to work.
Yet another obstacle rolled in. A catalog company caught me off-guard with a huge order. THEY had been caught off-guard with a big (and early) response to their holiday mailing. This didn't leave me my normal lead time of two to three weeks for production, but the money was welcome. The order will help mightily with our heating bill this winter!
It was a stretch--I worked round the clock to get the work ready--but I made it with a day to spare.
Unfortunately, that was the final nail in the coffin for the book project. Yesterday I received a plaintitive e-mail, asking if the editor could expect a package from me today (the extended deadline.)
I was crestfallen again. I had blown the SECOND deadline! Was there no hope for me?
Then I looked at the "to" line again.
I wasn't the only artist being e-mailed.
In fact, one of the other artists was a superstar in the collage world. One of my personal artist heroes, as a matter of fact.
This artist was missing the deadline, too!
I don't know why I felt so much better. After all, I'd still let this editor down.
But I wasn't alone.
