Here is yet another thing I’m proud of!

Between half-October and half-November Marty and I worked like crazy people to finish the website launch for S&S Trail Services, an already well-lauded trail building company recently set up by two of our dearest friends, Ryan Spates and Susan Stormer. We did this with a tight 30-day deadline and a ton of other stuff going on (including the Tribes Q&A!), and we are incredibly pleased with the result and the great feedback we’ve gotten so far.

Below is the site design, Marty’s gorgeous logo set, and the final business cards that went out in droves at the National Trails Symposium last week. ;}

Thank you for taking a look! It feels insanely good to have had this turn out so well.

I don’t know what you’re doing today, but I’m setting up the book design for The Usual Error, authored by the marvelous Pace & Kyeli Smith. Your life is not nearly as exciting as mine.

Just FYI.

I keep mentioning that things are changing but not exactly how, and I’m sure that must be maddening. Maddening! To be honest, I am working so hard on the Martin Whitmore illustration empire (and the Usual Error Project, as you’ve noticed!) that I’ve barely had a moment to start the transition I’ve planned. I promise it won’t be hard for you to adjust; I’ll smooth over the rough edges and everything will be just fine. ;}

In the meantime, there are a few other notes of interest.

The Tribes Casebook: I am incredibly pleased to mention that I have two case studies in the Triiibes-cooperative ebook released today on Seth Godin’s website (and many others). One submission is a collaboration, and the other is an original article. I am insanely proud of this project, and of my interactions with the Triiibes community. So super fabulously proud, in fact, that I made a whole post to go with the free downloadable ebook. You can read it here.

Martin Whitmore’s Community Commission No. 2: We are less than a week away from the final deadline for Community Commission No. 2, and we have nearly all of the proposed $700 goal. This is the second goal, which means that (if all goes well) Marty will be putting together a double commission. If you’d like to put your lot in, go and take a look.

There’s one more thing (or a string of things, really) that I would normally add, and it has to do with Marty. But I’m not going to tell you yet. Because it’s just too crazy and awesome, and I need to make sure it’s going to work out first. Ha!

Go! Do great things!

The Usual Error Project website has launched—which you know if you signed up for their launch notification list! I am exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. We all worked yesterday until almost 3 am this morning to get it finished, and we pushed the big sparkly launch button this morning.

I am incredibly proud of what Pace and Kyeli are working on, and my part in it—and Marty’s, too. This is important work for me, and it feels good to let it happen, to give it real energy and focus. You know that funny buzzy feeling you get when you’re on the Right Path, doing something you’re meant to be doing? That’s the feeling I have.

You can visit Pace and Kyeli now at The Usual Error Project, or read more about them at their blog. Please take a moment and look around. They’re doing incredible work.

For those of you who don’t already know, the Usual Error Project is about communication. Communicating with your boyfriend, your boss, your best bud, or your dog. It’s a great resource for anyone who finds themselves in hairy personal situations or unclear, people-oriented professional situations, and it has a slew of great solutions for the everyday communication confusions that many people try to shrug off and ignore. I have been a huge fan of it since Marty and I moved to Austin, and I’m not ashamed to say that I pimp it to my friends. It’s great stuff.

I used to write about the Usual Error Project constantly at my personal blog. I was liveblogging workshops and intensives, transposing scribbled notes, speculating, taking note of situational humor and inside jokes and related ideas. Well, after awhile I stopped doing that. I, er, started helping out instead. :P

There has been a lot of discussion and planning surrounding the Usual Error (and its new incarnation). We worked up a logo (my design, Marty’s brilliant Illustrator post-processing), and then a business card. We threw up a subscribable holding page at the Usual Error Project site, so that people could request to be notified when everything goes live. Since working together on this and other projects, Kyeli and Pace and I have spent a lot of time motivating ourselves to think outside the box, and I think it’s starting to become evident already—even though the site launch is at least a month away.

In the future I will most likely blog again the way I used to, but in the meantime I’m having a blast. These folks are really driven by a passionate force. I’m definitely feeling it. Please give their site a look and keep an eye out for new developments. Exciting things are afoot, y’all.

I recently made a post in Pavlina’s Personal Development forums because some people were asking about the PhotoReading seminars that Learning Strategies offers, and it just so happened that I attended one last weekend. Of course, y’all knew that, but I mostly talked about my hypnagogic hordes of bugs. Oops.

This particular seminar happened in Dallas (in Addison, which is just north of the city) and was instructed by Millicent St. Claire. I link to her site because she’s fantastic to work with, but I’ll tell you right now that her site doesn’t manage to put across just how awesome she is. It’s a great site, but she is very real and effective in person. She’s also incredibly warm and vibrant, engaging, and excellent at what she does.

The seminar was split into three sessions: Roughly 6p-9p Friday evening, 9a-7p Saturday, and 9a-6p Sunday. I was thankful for Friday’s brevity after my long drive from Austin (I got on the wrong branch of 35 North, so I was on the road about four and a half hours), but Saturday and Sunday I arrived in class super early to play with biofeedback games and talk to people and relax. The classroom was a great environment for anybody wanting to learn something. It was wholly non-traditional, intensely creative, and very focused on accelerated learning right down to the details. There were poignant quotes on the walls, beautiful posters, 3-D stereograms for photofocus practice, cups of rainbow-colored markers, fresh white paper, and scads of brain toys on the tables. (Man, we had a ball playing with those toys.) It was like the best kindergarten ever.

There were rules, too: No stress. Ever. And all that was asked of us was that we open our minds and Do The Thing—skepticism was welcome and invited, so we all felt very free to ask questions and make suggestions. There were even note boards for those of us who were too shy to ask something outright, and Millicent made a regular point of getting to those boards and getting questions answered for the whole group.

There were 38 people in the class. Two of them were younger than me (both pre-college, one several years younger than that) and most of them were older professionals—30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and one at least one septuagenarian with entertaining anecdotes and a great sense of humor. They were all very warm, open-hearted people with an interest in this thing that felt important to me, this thing I wanted to learn well, and that endeared them to me. By the end of the weekend we’d pooled our contact information so that it would be easy to create a post-seminar support structure in the name of helping each other and talking about our PhotoReading exploits. Millicent was very excited and encouraging on this score, and I think that made us even more hellbent on making it happen. I was constantly impressed at how on the ball she was in regards to creative, mindful learning all the way down to the bits and pieces; she a consistent motivator in all the ways that mattered.

Millicent used a whole slew of super-interesting techniques to help us learn. These were widely varied and ranged from neuro-linguistic programming to Brain Gym exercises to visualization and interpersonal conversations (and writing poetry!). These made a huge difference for me, and I made a point of writing many of them down so that I can look into them more in the future. (I will probably be blogging about some of them!)

Many of the techniques we used were not specific to the PhotoReading course itself. I bought the home study course quite awhile ago, so I was particularly curious about how much would be different in the seminar. The answer? Everything but the basics! We did a lot from the course, and all the important things were included, but we learned them in a huge variety of creative ways. A lot of these I had heard of before, a lot of them were new to me—and a lot of them were bits and pieces from other Learning Strategies materials used specifically for learning to PhotoRead. I loved this, because it let me see first-hand how I felt about methods and workshops that I’d been curious about but not ready to test on my pocketbook. (This resulted in me picking up other Learning Strategies offerings while I was there, since I liked some of the techniques so much and had a feel for their benefits—and there were special weekend discounts available to the seminar participants. That was awesome, since I likely would have bought those things anyway.)

I also loved having the opportunity to hear from seminar participants who’d done the seminar before, once and twice in some cases. Some people had incredible personal stories to tell about how PhotoReading has affected their lives and work, and some of those stories were amazing—just knocked me out of my seat. Some of those people were back to brush up on their technique, but after experiencing the weekend for myself I’m pretty sure I’d go again even if I felt completely solid. It only costs $80 to attend and audit after you’ve completed the first seminar, which of course is an excellent marketing strategy, because it makes me want to register again with other interested parties. I’m seriously, seriously thinking about it; it would be a fantastic thing to do with friends or family.

The seminar weekend in its entirety was unbelievably relaxing and empowering for me. I drove home from Dallas feeling really refreshed, proud, confident. There was so much positivity, so much creative productivity, so many reminders to me (and to all the participants) that we are powerful, unique, amazing. I spent a total of $550 to register (a discount because I had the home study course, and a discount because I purchased the registration in July), but if I had paid the full price of $750 I would still feel that it was the best money I’ve spent in a very, very long time. It was absolutely astonishing.

Ultimately I left feeling a) damn accomplished for a beginning PhotoReader! b) completely relaxed and excited to go back to work, like I’d taken a great vacation! c) thrilled with all the neat people I’d met and could keep in touch with, and d) incredibly, overwhelmingly positive about myself and my ability to deal with the world. That last one feels really good.

There’s no way I’ve covered it all in this post, because the weekend was packed full of fascinating experiences and new information. But if you want to ask me questions, please feel free. I love talking about it.

My first night in Dallas was a little weird, but the whole trip so far has been awesome. The seminar room is reminiscent of my office – positive vibes, bright colors, things hanging on the walls. It’s not as dense as my office is, but the crowded, creative energy is very similar. Millicent St. Claire is charming, fun to watch, and good at what she does. Except for minor hotel room weirdness, I feel quite relaxed and pleased with myself. Maybe I should plan to venture out more often!

The minor weirdness was… weird. I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night and there were three or four little teardrop-shaped bugs, of the same family but varying sizes, crawling around on the doorjamb. I was half asleep and annoyed that there were bugs in my room (not one, but three or four) and I stared at them stupidly for awhile, formulating (unsuccessfully) a course of action. Eventually I went back to bed and hoped that there wasn’t anything on my side of the room that they wanted, or maybe the air conditioner would keep them at bay.

I slept well once I got to sleep, but wondering how many more there might be kept me half-awake in bed for a few hours. I didn’t want to call the desk about it just then, because I needed as much sleep as I could get before 6. Who are you, bugs? What do you want? Should I ask for another room?

Of course, this morning when I got up there was no trace of them, which leaves me wondering if I’m experiencing some trademark Morris cognitive laxity. I’m preeeeetty sure I wasn’t hallucinating. They may have come for the water on the floor, left from my shower – so this morning I was fastidious about drying off standing in the tub. Who knows if that will deter them, but the seminar ends at 7 tonight instead of 9, so if I see more there will be a few hours to discuss it with the front desk before collapsing into bed.

As for now, I feel mostly rested and excited (if not entirely awake). If I see caffeinated tea, I will avail myself of it. I’ll snack on rice chips and blueberries throughout the day, and have my sprouts for dinner. Sprouts!! I adore sprouts. I think I’ll be fine. ;}

The seminar doesn’t begin for another hour and a half, but the instructor mentioned software that sounded like a biorhythms game, and said that she’d be in the room at 7:30 this morning. I am an early bird, so I’m going to scout that out. It sounds like fun!

These people are all about positive vibrations, realizing your power and potential, expressing and creating yourself in the world.

I have to say I rather like them so far.

In the last few months, a lot of scary things have happened. Finances have been tight; business has been slow. Our car died a quiet death on the highway, leaving us without any vehicle or emergency funds with which to obtain one. Amazing friends gave us a loaner for a few months, but we need a car; we’re on a deadline. This happened not long after we decided to make a plan of action for some Big Things—things that would require a lot of courage and dedication, and we are still moving on them. We are still planning to do them, despite everything else. I would venture to say they must be done. They will require great feats of impressiveness from both of us, and I won’t lie—the prospect of really going through with them is a bit scary, especially under these circumstances.

In the meantime, looking for a car had gotten to be very difficult and demoralizing. Most car dealerships are crap. Sometimes they are also crazy, pushy, or mean (and in one case, downright disturbing). The bank gave us some weird, unanticipated trouble with getting the car loan we wanted. Our resources have been pushed to their limits.

And then the apartment complex raised our rent.

Marty looks at all of this and has the distinct impression that the world is conspiring against us. I used to feel that way, too. I’m starting to see the world differently. All of these things going wrong, going crazy, I look at them and can’t help but think…

Wow. This is what happens in game when you’re close to the treasure.

Making decision after decision based on fearlessness, instead of familiarity and safety, can be draining. But I feel like this universe is buckling around us. I feel that if, instead of running away, I push harder… Maybe it will crumble. Maybe it will fall away and I will find myself smack in the middle of a new universe.

What can I raise from the ashes of the old one?

These are our opportunities to prove what kind of people we are, to know something about ourselves. Do we do the safe thing? The familiar thing? Or do we behave like a player character and be the hero in our own story?

So many people are content to be NPCs.

If we do the safe and familiar thing, we go nowhere. We read the same script over and over, go through the same motions. We accomplish nothing. There is no progress. If we’re not willing to do something different, we are just like everyone else.

It would be very easy—very normal, very unremarkable—to see all these bad, scary things as signs to back off. But all I can see, over and over, is that the monsters are all attacking at once.

They only do that when you’re close!

And I don’t want to be normal.

Steve Pavlina has said that if people are treating you like you’re crazy, you’re on the right path. You’re making the decisions other people are afraid to make. And I feel, just now, like the universe is treating us like we’re crazy. And I’m going, YEAH!! I’m CRAAAAZY!! And the universe is like, omg… weird… And I’m all, YEAH!! LOOK AT THE CRAZY GIRL!!

If my friends did that, I’d find new friends. If the universe is doing it, I need a new universe.

I think I’ll make one.

Karen Wennberg’s fantastic Thriving Artist campaign is reaching its peak (well, at least for now!). She’s created a Fundable project to raise money for her website and she’s offering a lot of really awesome stuff in return for donations. There are only five days left and she’s nearly met her goal, so please go take a look at her stuff and support her if you so desire!

[Edit: As of Friday evening, Karen has exceeded her goal, although donations are still being accepted. Thank you for giving her your support!]

Since last summer I’ve been working with an awesome individual by the name of Robert Gardner, who deals in yoga, Thai massage, and food genius (among other things). This week his website went live and I can confidently say it’s one of my favorite designs ever. If you’re looking for someone to help you improve your health and wellness over all, Robert is your dude. And whether or not that’s your cup of tea, I’d love some feedback on the design we settled on!