Sunday 2 August 2009

Good things come to those who wait

The thing with blogging is that it’s instant. You write, take a photograph, download it from your digital camera, upload it along with your entry, hit post and you’re done. Your thoughts and images of your work are out there in the world almost instantaneously.

But when you’ve made a birthday gift for someone, you have to wait until they’ve received it before posting so that you don’t ruin the surprise. This was the case with my sister’s coasters:


I made them more than two months ago, ready to wing their way to South Africa with my mom-in-law on her return home at the end of June. And I had to wait patiently until my sister’s birthday last Thursday for the beans to be spilled. She loves them, thankfully. Although I kind of knew she would.

My point is that of instant gratification and how ultimately unsatisfying it is. I find that the pleasure I get out of making or doing something is directly proportional to the amount of time taken to make it or waited to do it. Having to wait weeks to see if someone loves your handmade gift as much as you hope they will or taking over a year to finish a hand-embroidered project makes me feel happy and satisfied for days, if not weeks.

I’ve stumbled on a way to apply this to the world of blogging. It wasn’t my intention when I started posting the patterns for my Jacobean Leaves designs, but that’s how it ended up. It took a few months to get the patterns drawn up and posted, but what a nice feeling when the last one was out there and I realised people had been waiting patiently and collecting them. Most satisfying.

Refraining from posting unless you have something worth sharing is another way to do it. There are so many good blogs out there, that I’m sure people would rather read one well thought out, written or relevant post every now and then than be inundated with minutia on a daily basis. The same goes for pictures. I’ve accepted my limitations as far as photography is concerned, but will continue to try and take the best photos I can – bloggers like Jane Brocket have proved that good images work.

My theory works in reverse, too. I’d rather wait a while to read a really good post. Browsing hours are scarce, so this way I don’t miss any either. Works for me.

5 comments:

Cele said...

I agree :)
Beautiful coasters by the way, no wonder she loved them.
There really isn't anything quite like a beautiful handmade gift , or the pleasure of making one for someone.

Clare Wassermann said...

Yes I agree - I have started to Blog once a week now. A little more substantial posts and allowing me time to actually get on and DO things seems better. Mind you there are a couple of Blogs I look forward to every day...I would really miss them. Your coasters are really colourful xx

kat said...

Lovely coasters. Lucky sister.

Oh, and I'd read your posts even if filled with minutia - or I'll wait patiently for the well composted verison :)

kat said...

uh, version. See what you mean about hitting the 'publish' button too quickly.

Unknown said...

Kelly, this is your sister speaking, and yes I love my coasters, they are fabulous! Thanks so much, you very talented person. xxx