Monday, May 17, 2010

REFLECTIONS ON THE PAST YEAR...

I just realized that in one month it will be 1st anniversary of PrittieHartPress and 17 years since my dad died. It’s been both a great year and a bad year and, being the “glass is overflowing” type of person I am, I’ll focus on the good stuff first. The best part of working with all of my dad’s pictures (which all of us kids truly hated having taken the older we became) is that now, at the age of 55, I am so grateful that he did take them. He preserved our family memories in a way that not many people have the capability of doing. I am just now realizing what a talented man he was and I so wish he was alive so that I could tell him.

I think he would be so pleased that his photo collection from the set of the 1957 movie "Band of Angels" with Clark Gable and Yvonne DeCarlo was just sold to the Warner Bros. Museum in Burbank, CA. It’s a huge 7000 square foot museum built in 1996 and they wanted the collection for posterity’s sake.

I also think my dad would be happy that one of his photos that he took of me when I was four years old is now on a greeting card that is presently being sold. I mean, how cool is that? A picture of me on the front and dad receives photographic credit on the back of the card. As a matter of fact, I just received my first royalty check today from Design Design, Inc. and it was “Prittie” (get it?) exciting.

O.K…now for the bad part of the last year. I put a ton of effort and time into marketing and, like I mentioned above, just received my first check. I feel like I have been a floundering fish because I just delved right into this without really knowing what I was doing. As a matter of fact, when the creative director at Design Design, Inc. called to say she was interested in licensing the image, I didn’t even know what she was talking about. She then said “Well, isn’t that why you were sending the images?” Duh…

Working with a small family-owned company for 33 years has not prepared me for dealing with huge corporations and the glacier-like pace in which they move. It reminds me of exactly why I went to work for a small company because I remember having to fill out a requisition form for pens at a huge corporation…and all I wanted to do was say “Give me a darn pen so I can do my work!” I have learned that you really have to “put yourself out there” and sometimes make yourself look like a fool. I am sure that some people I have sent proposals to wonder why in the heck I sent them a proposal. And I’ll tell you…it’s because of this:

Fun Busses

In 1977 when I moved out to California and didn’t have a car, I hopped on a bus to go to a job interview at that huge corporation. After quite awhile of riding around, I realized that I had inadvertently hopped on a “fun bus,” one of those busses that only takes you to Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, etc., instead of a public transportation bus. After realizing this, I got off the bus and walked, and walked, and walked and ended up at a large corporation but not the one I was supposed to interview with. By that time I was so tired of walking that I just asked them if there were any openings…and here I am 33 years later still doing some work for the people that I met there at that large corporation.

So, to answer any questions about why I might have sent you a proposal, it goes way back to “fun busses”—you never know where something might lead you :)

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

ONCE A NERD...ALWAYS A NERD :)

This proves it…I am officially a product of the 1950’s. My almost 84-year-old mother recently corrected me on the pronunciation of Beyonce’s name. What’s really sad is that I’m not even really sure who she is …and what’s worse than that? I don’t even care :)

The same goes for the recent launch of the Ipad. I don’t have a clue as to what it is, what it does, how it works, or what it is and, once again, I really don’t care! It’s not that I am a total recluse by any means. I’m aware of the technology that is at our disposal and I think it’s great in so many ways but I also think we, as people, have lost a lot due to technology. I think we have lost the ability to truly communicate in a meaningful way. I see parents with their children and they’re on their cell phones and, therefore, they’re not really with their children. And what’s worse is when you see little kids on cell phones texting away. I think the parents are missing out on the opportunity to ask their kids what they’re thinking and never knowing what will come out of their mouths. (I used to do that with my daughter just for fun when she was around 4 or 5 and it was great listening to her.) Or driving the kids in the car and, instead of talking about random things happening in their lives, instead parents are talking on their cell phones and the kids are in the back seat on their cell phones. Heck, I’ve seen entire families walking along all on their cell phones.

The internet is truly fantastic and a great tool for research. However, aren’t we missing the actual feel of a book in our hands? I might have mentioned this in a previous post but I remember one summer when I was in 5th or 6th grade checking out every single biography out of our library (they were orange) and then pretending I was that person. I think that the internet can actually detract from our ability to be creative…especially for young children.

O.K., now with all that said…my daughter has a really neat cell phone that she can hold up to a radio and it will tell you the name of the song and the artist. Now that is cool :)

Are you wondering what this post has to do with my greeting cards? It doesn’t (except for in terms of communication). I should have probably titled this post “Apropos absolutely nothing.”