Why Didn't I Think of That Before?

Yesterday I had an epiphany. It was so simple, so easy, so obvious, that I immediately felt dumb for not figuring this out way back in 2000.

Yesterday I went by the local shop to see if any of my items had sold. I've only sold one bag. Now I haven't been on consignment for very long, but I am anxious to bring in dollars. I decided to make another bag similar to the one that sold.

I have a HUGE collection of designs- things I've made, things I want to make, patterns I use repeatedly, and things I think are cool, but I can't think of a practical application for. I rooted around in the Celtic knot pile until I found a design I could make quickly. It just happened to be one I hadn't used before. Of course, once I finished this project, the design would go in the things-I-made pile. The papers don't really go anywhere, they just shuffle. Then I find more designs. I'm doing good about keeping new things electronic, but I get a lot of stuff from the library. I keep library notes/ideas on paper. Lots of paper.

I think better with paper. I keep journals for years. Sometimes, I take an old journal, summarize it, look for patterns (as in reoccurring themes in life), ask myself questions, and rewrite significant events into a new journal. I have tried several times to do this with a Word file on my computer. I always delete the files. They don't seem important somehow. I'm not sure why I am this way. I guess it's because my high school was just far enough behind the times to be lacking in computers. My aunt told me before she types a letter on the computer, she writes it out in longhand first. I like computers and I was very grateful to have one when I was writing term papers in college, but I have blue line paper notebooks in every room of my house.

As I took my daily walk, I started thinking I needed to organize my mess. I'm doing a fairly good job of keeping everything neat, but I still can't find anything when I need it. I usually make a huge mess looking for something because I can't remember which pile it's in. I started thinking I should go paperless, but what kind of computer database would hold all that? I'd practically need the Internet...

OMG.

It was one of those brilliantly shining ideas that's blinding, it's so right. I need a design blog. I could upload pictures of my work, make notes about why I made it, how long it took to make, what I used, how I did it, and then just TAG it so I could search for Celtic/horses/birthday/commission AND THEN if anyone wanted to see a portfolio, I could give them address. Holy shit, I am a genius!

I haven't started a new blog yet. I've been too busy basking the glow of my fine idea. I will probably set it up under my real name, and I think it will be password protected so nobody can steal my ideas. Did I mention some bitch on Etsy stole a treasury I made? I thought I was looking at my own treasury when I realized one item was different. She made a treasury using every item I did, save for one thing. It pissed me off. I know the odds are slim to none that we just happened to have the same idea and then got almost the exact same things. But it's not worth fighting over because she stole a treasury list, not my actual product. But still. Grow up and stop copying me.