Blogetary (Weblog + Commentary = Blogetary)

Okay, so things are beginning to look a little better, but it’s still a bit like trying to redirect the Titanic AFTER it hit the iceberg. And it’s going to take a long time to fix everything, but I think if I keep plugging at it (bailing water, plugging holes, etc), I’ll at least keep adrift, which is better than what happened to the Titanic. I was beating myself up about everything because I’ve been here before and didn’t think I would ever be here again. But after looking at things again, I realized it’s not really the same place and I didn’t get here by the same means at all. I just need to plod along (Slow and Stead Wins the Race…) and keep trying. What’s the alternative?

So, here’s part of what I’ve been dealing with.  My logo (the tree, not the little putt putt car), was designed three years ago when I fell in love with this album cover and a friend of mine (Chandra, who’s a graphic artist and artist-artist, as well as a writer) redid it for me so I could use it for my company logo (well, at first we were talking tattoo, but who wants to spend $500 on a tattoo of such a cool design that everyone should see and not be hidden away as a tattoo?). There was no one credited with the design on the cover, so we all figured it was a design from Celtic mythology.  Chandra did her bit, it was at least 17% different from what was on the album cover, so what was the harm?

So, I’ve been using it on my stationery and stuff and was trying to use it on a Cafe Press store when it got flagged for being like someone else’s design. I contacted Cafe Press, they gave me the contact of the company who said they owned the design (Keltic Designs). I wrote that person to ask about it. And then wrote again a few days later (maybe a week later?) after not hearing from them. I explained where I got the design (Celtic Journey’s album cover) and that I didn’t see this as an issue since  the Keltic Design was different from Celtic Journey and mind was different from that. So, again, where was the harm? Still no answer.

I should have just dropped it and continued to quietly use it for my little putt putt company on my stationery, but I really wanted to get it settled now in case it bit me in the ass later.  So, I wrote a third time saying I really wanted to get this worked out and forwarded the info from the previous email. I FINALLY got a reply back and all it said was, “I’ll get back to you later this week but please just stop using that logo” (paraphrased but basically the gist).

I waited. He never got back to me later that week. I got the impression he’s one of those irritating people who uses his phone for everything and was probably emailing from his phone and that he didn’t like to be articulate via the written word.

I decided to bite the bullet and reply back to him earlier this week to get some kind of details nailed out. I’m one of those people who has to know WHY. If I’m told not to do something or to do something I want to know why. If something isn’t good enough or isn’t liked, I want to know why and then I want a chance to argue my point. It’s why I didn’t go into the military. I can’t obey not knowing the reason behind the order. You tell me to not stand somewhere, I want to know why. You tell me to go do something, I want to know why. In this case, he told me not to use a design I had grown attached to so I wanted to know why. Because if you know why, then you can make an informed decision as to whether or not to do what ever you’re being told to do or not to do. Sometimes you can even find a better way of doing it or a way to get out of it, or even to just back off and go away. The “why” lets you in on the information needed for all that stuff. I’m a big believer in WHY.

So, I finally hear back from this guy. Again, I get the impression he’s just texting me in a hurry from his cell and he could really care less about reading a carefully thought out missive and replying with equal care. (This is the way my mind works. The company is based in San Francisco, so I’m seeing a skinny goth graphic artist with celtic sensibilties, maybe a tattoo or three, those ear bores instead of an earring, and maybe a soul patch, who’s texting me on his iPhone whilst taking BART to Oakland or Berkeley to see a band, or maybe taking a bus from downtown up to a bar on the lower Haight, or even upper Haight.)

So, in his hurried, harried way, he says to give him my phone number so he can call and we can work this out over the phone (notice he doesn’t offer his number) and that “BTW” he sued Celtic Journeys $10,000 for using that design without his permission.

Okay – first – we’re dealing with legal stuff here. I’m more comfortable keeping all that type of discussion between us in writing so it can be referred to later if there are problems. Plus, I don’t give out my phone number to just anyone. I just don’t. And I’m a writer and much more comfortable writing people than speaking with them, especially in regards to these types of issues. On top of THAT, if he were really using his brain and wanted to get hold of me he could have paid attention to my email, clicked on the link to my website that’s the signature in my email and gotten contact information from that. He didn’t do any of that so I’m assuming that to him I’m a nuisance on his cell phone and he’s taking care of it between appointments, bar hops, trips to the Gauntlet for a piercing or tattoo, or something.  And he just wants to call me, yell at me about artists rights, and make me go away. Of course, I’m going to go out of my way to avoid that.

Second – and most important – that little throw away “BTW” comment was all I really wanted to know in the first place! If he’d simply taken the time to read the first (or second) email, tell me he had sued that band at the outset in an articulate email and not sent some seat-of-the-pants text with no real information in it, then I would have backed off at the very beginning. The issue would have been settled way back in September.

*Le sigh* as a friend of mine says. I really do hate that we live in a world where multitasking on phones and texting in short hand is replacing real, articulate communication and thought.

So, I’m in a funk because I have to let go of a logo I’ve been using for a few years. I really liked it. It’s going to mean going through a mourning period.

It also means I need to come up with a new logo. I spent last night coming up with ideas. I have my little putt putt car design that I like to use. I need to clean that up. But I want to keep a stylized tree as an alternate logo because, well, one day, when ya’ll read my books you’ll understand why the tree is important to me. So, I’m going to work on that. One day when I have it all nailed down and have the time I’m going to see about borrowing someone’s Photoshop and making it all right and pretty and official. But, like everything else (including swinging the Titanic around), it’s all going to take time. And I’m reminded once again of “Slow and Steady Wins the Race…” Put that together with the Little Engine that Could (“I think I can. I think I can.”) and you pretty much have the gist of my internal dialogue these days.

Just in case you think it’s all gloom and doom, though. It isn’t. I am learning a lot at my new job as front desk person at the Larchmont Chronicle.  This is basically the job I wanted 20 odd years ago when I graduated from college but couldn’t seem to find (English Lit major in a college town – can you say “fries with that”?). It’s part-time office grunt work, sure, but it’s at a legitimate monthly newspaper, learning how things are done in the print world, laid out, etc. The people I work with are kind, decent people.  I look forward to learning a lot while I’m there. Plus, because it’s part-time (and a five minute stroll down the street), rent is paid and it leaves me time and energy to still do my freelance work and pay those other bills.

Besides, a couple of poems of mine will be coming out in Electric Velocipede any time now (or so I’m told).

On top of that, my cousin’s band, Peanut Albinos, sent me a few extra copies of their new CD, Falling from a Saddle of High Horse. I’m thinking there might be a blog contest for a copy or two in the future once I pull the Titanic around.

Okay, so, it may be a while until I’m back up for good, but I’m still kinda around.

Thanks, you guys, for being there. Hope you’re all doing well.

And don’t forget to VOTE!