One wedding over. It was a lovely day and the HappenStance prototype PoemCard made its first appearance. Since then it’s been slimmed down, tweaked, its leading changed, its titling endlessly rearranged, its backside information fiddled with. But some gorgeous envelopes are on order. The end product is very very close.
It is surprising how long it takes not just putting things in envelopes to post them to people, but simply ordering the necessary materials for the operation. I know online orders are relatively quick. One doesn’t have to drive to the shop or talk to anyone. But still it seems to take ages to do it all and make sure it’s done right.
Today and yesterday, at the crack of dawn (quite literally since I took my son to catch a plane to Geneva at 6.20 am and I was cracking) I was ordering (from several different suppliers):
- PoemCard envelopes, bright green, 500
- Padded envelopes for pamphlets
- Clear sleeves for pamphlets and envelopes (1000)
- Small address stickers (500)
- Card (various thicknesses) for printing onto
So once again, the spare bedroom – now that no-one is sleeping in it again – will become a store-room.
Meanwhile, the STORY competition ends today. I made an error with the dates and in one place put Saturday August 9th (on the flyer, I think) but the 9th is actually a Sunday. The part of my brain that deals with dates has never functioned well. (Seriously, not a joke.) Anyway, today, Sunday, will be the last day, and since the postal strike has timed itself to coincide with our end-date we’ll also need to wait for any mail put in the box by Friday but arriving a little late.
Not sure how many entries there are yet, whether it’s more or fewer than last year. There is always a huge flurry at the end. The main concern at this stage is that the competition should bring in enough money to cover its costs. It will be even better if it raises a bob or two to assist the poetry side of things. Anyway, an intense story reading period is about to start, to get to the long-list stage. This is done by Sarah Willans and myself.
In the background I’m finalising poetry pamphlet publications: last communications with authors, final page-setting tweaks to arrive at camera-ready copy for Dolphin Press, the owners of which have had their holiday and are back to the grindstone.
This is ‘my’ week. No weddings. No visitors. A clear week before college starts and a long long list of stuff to work through. But I’m feeling optimistic, and at least I’ve ordered the padded bags. . .
