Would This Be Missed?

Oh dear. I'm not sure how to proceed....!

I'm just learning bits about the General Data Protection Regulation, which is a new data privacy law being introduced by the European Union.

It affects businesses and bloggers everywhere (not just the EU), and it comes into full force tomorrow, May 25.

Because of this deadline I've been hearing more and more about it over the last week, but I know little except that it applies to anyone online who processes 'personal data,' like names and email addresses. And non-compliance can amount to some staggeringly butt-biting fines. Like gabillion-dollar fines.

Some well-meaning sites offer 'easy' ways to make sure one's biz and blogsite are compliant, but I swear those ways are written in Klingon. Seriously, I am so stumped it's not funny. I want to do what's necessary and I want to do it immediately, but I'm so confused by it!

I can't imagine I've amassed any 'personal data' outside of the names and e-addresses of the handful of followers I have who get these occasional posts emailed to them. But I'd hate to be wrong and then get busted.... In the grand scheme of things, I may be a tiny blogger with a tiny business and a tiny online footprint, but I still have to comply....

I enjoy blogging, but you wouldn't know it to look at my 2018 posts. The year is half over and I think I've written once if I've written at all.... But it's not because I have nothing to say. You're in my thoughts every dang day, and I have dozens of draft posts to prove it. Rather than send you something all rambling and mind-numbing, I prefer to have a topic. With an appropriate title. And some photos to break up all the type and give you something to look at. Something that looks professional. Something that looks like it's been proofread and spellchecked. And that takes time (and I'm a perfectionist as well as a procrastinator)....

Still.

I wonder....

Am I worried about making a blog GDPR compliant that is doing nothing but taking up space, shouting into the void, spinning its wheels? Is it worthy of keeping around? Or is it time to dispense with it?

This is one time I really need you to comment. Please. So what do you think?

Would this be missed?
...

Kapow!

Head's exploding a little! I need to change things up, I'm thinking.

There are readers here -- friends in real life -- who don't make a habit of commenting on my blogposts, but will contact me via email about them. And that's perfect!

That being said: I'm learning that the recent accidental postings (OK, not so recent; it was a month ago) of my daily email blast have resonated with some of them, and their comments remind me of a conversation I had with my Eldest ages ago, one in which she told me that my daily email needs to be my blog. It's more 'me.' Because I don't edit myself there like I tend to do here.

Why, exactly? That's had me wondering....

I feel like I have to be careful here; Mayfaire is my biz and I worry about its 'brand.' Would sharing my scars and my daily highs and lows hurt my biz? I haven't wanted to take that chance....

SO.

Should I create a second blog?

Wondering, wondering.... And I've been wondering now for weeks.

It's not the only thing that's making my head explode exactly. There's a whole buttload of stuff going on right now that gives me tons to think about:

• It's summer vacation!
• I'm having Trip-of-a-Lifetime flashbacks
• What's up with my Etsy store??
• Monarch butterfly season here at Tumbledown has begun
• Fest prep is underway
• How can I turn my recent creations into Fest products?
• My gardens are SHAGGY and in need of attention
• My house is shaggier....
• And -- it's summer vacation! (My inner child can't seem to get around this and knuckle down.)

Yikes! I'm not sure where to focus my attention.... But that's normal for me, isn't it?

So now you know: In the weeks that I've been silent, blogwise, it's simply the usual chaos here. Making everything crazier than it needs to be is apparently my superhero power. :)

I'll try to get things under control enough to write again. Until then!

I heart you, my friend,
...me.
...

Happy Thoughts and Happy Thotz

My 2nd copy. I'm hard on this book....

For ages now I've sent out a daily email to a few friends and family members, an email inspired by a book I consider to be a lifesaver.

It all began a long time ago when someone gave me a page-a-day desk calendar for Christmas based on Barbara Ann Kipfer's 14,000 Things to be Happy About. Each page of the calendar featured a selection of five pleasant things meant to inspire my happiness.

And they did.

I kept the calendar on my desk at the office where I worked at the time, and some days most days every dang day those happy thoughts were my lifeline.

First thing every morning I shared the day's calendar page with three people -- my James, a mutual friend of ours, and a fellow co-worker -- by sending them the list of happy suggestions typed up in an email which I began referring to as the 'Happy Thotz.' (Yeah, I thought the misspelling was clever at the time....)

Some days the Calendar would inspire me to change up the list or add my own variations to it. Sometimes it would cause one or more of us to come up with our own things to be happy about and share them with the others. Sometimes it would spark a dialogue or take us on a tangent. And more than once it caused all hell to break loose.

But it always inspired something.

And because of that I looked forward to pushing the 'send' button and then anticipating a response. And I'm not lying when I say that the daily interaction with those particular people was monumental; it got me through one of the most stressful jobs I've ever had. And I owe it all to Ms. Kipfer and her inspirational book.
 
I no longer work at that office. I work at home for myself. But Barbara Kipfer's book is right next to my desk and I still send out the daily Thotz email. It's since evolved to include a bunch of other stuff in addition to the author's suggestions of things for which to be happy. I'm careful to give her credit, of course, and over the years I like to think I've helped add to her teeming list of fans. But her pleasant suggestions have since become just a small part of the email I send.

And the tradition continues because I'd be lost if it didn't. I write the Thotz to keep in touch with those I care about. I write them to hopefully entertain someone and brighten their day. I write them to learn stuff about myself (BOY, do I learn stuff about myself!). I write them because I just have to. They're like my blog posts, only on the fly. More me than I feel comfortable being here. In that respect, I guess they're still a lifeline....

Today that daily email goes out to a handful of friends and family. I'm told some even go on to share it with others. And -- the whole point of this post (I'm so wordy!) -- this afternoon it may even have gone out to YOU, here at the Not-So-Daily Maily.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

It did because I'm able to write blog posts in my email program and send them here from there, and this blog's address just so happens to be right next to the list of individuals I routinely message. And today I was careless and accidentally included the Maily as one of my recipients....

Oops.

But I think I caught it in time. Still, if you subscribe to my blog and received a Not-So-Daily Maily post from me in your email today that looks nothing like THIS post, I apologize for sending it to you in error.

If you received it, I kind of hope you read it. And if you read it, I really hope you found it worth your while. But, if nothing else, may my mistake be Ms. Kipfer's gain: Check out her creative and whimsical website HERE, follow her inspirational tweets on Twitter HERE.

May her suggestions make you smile and inspire your happiness.
...

Questions for YOU

Flying, flying! But to where, exactly?....

It happens every year around the Holidays.

I rethink this blog, where it's gone, and where it's (hopefully) going.

I think about how it's supposed to be about my business -- Mayfaire -- and about my art and my creative process and stuff, but how it ends up being pretty much just a letter from me to you about all sorts of things that aren't necessarily creativity-related.

And that just seems to be in conflict with what I'd intended this blog to be....

Then I think, maybe I should start another blog, and let that one be the personal one.

And then I think, who's gonna want to take the time to follow TWO of my blogs??

Yeesh.

Obviously I need some direction. So here's where you come in. Below is a small list of questions that I hope you'll take a moment to answer either here or on my Facebook page as doing so would be really really helpful to me. Ready? Here goes:

1. What past Mayfaire posts are your faves? What do you enjoy reading about here? Is it the personal stuff about my thoughts, my house, my pets/kids/grandbugs? Is it the stuff about my art and my creative process? Is it about bigger stuff -- what artists I like, why saving Monarch butterflies is my passion, things like that? What about this blog interests you? (I know which posts are most popular, but their subject matters seem to be all over the map, so that's just confusing me again....)
2. More photos or less photos? Longer posts or shorter? Every day or only when I've got something important to say? Is it important that you hear from me often? Or is it just annoying if I pop up in your in-box every day?
3. Should I limit myself here to just my art? Or does it somehow work to have everything -- business, personal, the works -- jumbled together? If I just wrote here about All Things Mayfaire, would you be interested in (or take the time to follow) a separate blog about all the other stuff? And if there were two blogs, which would you look forward to the most?

I like that it's just me and you here. Writing to you is one of my favorite things to do and it makes me happy. But I want you to be happy here, too. Your opinion matters! So thank you in advance for your reply, my friend. :)
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Cyber Monday Grand Opening!

You've heard of Stratford-upon-Avon? Whimsey-on-Why? Now there's Mayfaire-on-Etsy!

Yes, after all that work and hair pulling and photo tweaking and -- I'll admit it -- FUN, Mayfaire's Etsy shop is finally open. No, it's not called Mayfaire-on-Etsy (although that is dang cute), but it IS called MayfaireArt and you can find it there (check out my sidebar for the slide-show gadget) or by clicking here.

I'm still in the process of linking new work, but as of this post you'll find at least a handful of resin art pins, pendants, and earrings as well as colorbooks and Kris-Moose books currently being offered. PLEASE go there and look around, 'k? It warms my little artist heart to know that you've taken a moment to check out my work.

And in the event that you like something you see there, please know that free shipping is available through Cyber Monday at least, and I'm offering blog readers (old and new and otherwise*) a 10% discount. Just use the coupon code CYBER2011 during the checkout process.

BIG THANKYOUS FOR GIVING MY WORK A MOMENT OF YOUR TIME! And happy cybershopping!

:)
...delayne.
...

*Your friends and family might like to be in on the secret, too, so please share!