Spring - campaign journal #03
The whole process of journaling is both a new and an old concept to me. The idea of sitting down day-to-day and writing about my process or my thoughts or certain concepts feels foreign, yet I keep a meticulous workday-diary. Just ask anyone in the Ethos studio; my desk diary is the most anally neat and precise thing you’ll ever see this side of Howard Hughes’ bedroom.
I’ve only been writing full-time for a little over 18 months, and I’ve only been back in England for 20, and I’m still trying to find my feet. There are days when I fly high, a whirlwind of productivity and sassy quips, and others when I feel absolutely lost. There are also times when I am absolutely terrified.
For me, Spring presents a way to ask for help without having to swallow my pride and actually physically ask for it. I just need to make it a part of my routine. When I sit down to plan my day in my Moleskine, I’ll teach myself to take a few minutes to write something more personal in Spring, the marriage of the two hopefully having a positive effect on my burgeoning career.
The Indiegogo campaign has been a weird beast to try and get to grips with, as I only joined the Ethos team in the run-up to Issue 02, having completely bypassed the first crowdfunding campaign. When Lucy and the crew were crowdfunding Issue 01, I was in Canada having yet another crisis and eating my bodyweight in saturated fat. By the time I shuffled back into Liverpool it was time for the launch party for the first issue of Ethos, I gegged in at the back of the room, again eating my bodyweight in saturated fat. The team clearly saw something in this weird feral man covered in cheesecake, took a chance on me and brought me into the fold. It’s been difficult at times, but it’s the most fun I have ever had at work.
The campaign itself hit me like an articulated lorry. One minute we were talking potential ideas, brainstorming project names and dream interviewees, then BAM; we were live and I was hooked on refreshing Indiegogo every 15 seconds. No amount of preparation could have let me in on what was going to happen.
Then disaster struck and my internet at home conked out for the best part of two weeks. To feed my Indiegogo addiction (and to allow me to work from my couch) I turned to rinsing my phone data allowance while listening to Thundercat ‘Drunk’ on repeat — best album of 2017 if you were asking.
As of writing we are three weeks into the campaign and just over 54% to our total goal. Every day is completely different; some days it’s like an Old West gold rush, others it’s like being sat in your front room waiting for a taxi to the airport. You know, that long agonising drawn-out wait, where a minute feels like a month. For all the best will in the world I put together a day-to-day list before the campaign started chock full of assets and angles we could push through social media, but the campaign itself is fluid and living and most of my prep went out the window, meaning I had to roll with the punches. Still am to be brutally honest.
So, it is definitely an exciting time in the Ethos studio, what with the campaign and the ongoing production of Ethos magazine Issue 08. We’re going into the final week of the campaign and need your help more than ever. If you haven’t donated to the Indiegogo campaign yet but would like to, then click the big massive banner below, and make sure you tell everyone you know. Literally everyone, even your dentist. Nice one.
Originally published at ethos-magazine.com.
