June 21, 2O23
Dearest Querents,
GREETINGS and WELCOME to the first entry of the second Clark & Kobel Blog Series:
“The Fool’s Journal”
Unlike my other series, “Letters To Josh”, this one will be focused on my thoughts, processes, and workings in ALL arenas of projects and personal developments - it’s an all access pass..
I find the timing of this first entry advantageous with it being Summer Solstice, the peak of the illuminated half of the year, where we can look back at the first half of the year AND look ahead to the second half, and from there make choices as to where we are going, and how we are going to get there - it is a time of HIGH energy and abundant yield, it is a time of focused effort.
Summer Solstice has traditionally been a time of radical achievement for Clark & Kobel with previous years yielding extensive movie filming, music recording, content writing and creation.
From 2O19 through 2O22, we planned and achieved EPIC Summer Solstice project ambitions,
and though film and music are not the focus this year, releasing it all finally IS on the agenda.
Admittedly, this being the first year since Josh’s death on August 19th, 2O22, it’s been a little bit nerve-wracking as shadows of insecurity arise at times, however,.. nothing will stop this now.
Follow me as I reflect on the last six months of Clark & Kobel’s past, contemplate the upcoming six months of the future, and check in with the happenings of the present as it is unfolding now.
“The Present”
As I contemplate my focus in the Present moment, a few things come immediately to mind..
FIRST, is that I aim to complete ANY and ALL in-progress projects ASAP, particularly:
The Website
The Art needs for Merchandising
The last Video Contract for the episodes - this is drafted, just needs to be signed
The most current Art Contracts for the merchandising and promotions
The Blogs - getting them current and ready to post, this is also nearly done.
It may not seem like a ton of work, but every task takes a fair amount of time.
The website sessions occur about once a week for two hours, and in that time we DO make substantial advancements - ideally I’d love to get a few mega-sessions in to move things along.
The contracts are mostly thatched to the time it takes to draft, review, and sign them.
The Art is also an on-going endeavor, and we are currently doing weekly touch-base sessions for about a half hour; Ana, our Artist IS doing a wonderful job delivering content weekly on time.
As far as the blogs, in the last two weeks I have devoted no less than ten hours writing, editing, and staging them for distribution via the website, and ultimately on social media and newsletter.
If I have it my way, ALL of these current projects will be in the bag by Lughnasa, August 1st.
41 days….
That covers all current affairs; regarding the past and future affairs, there is much to say.
The Past:
How far back shall I go?…
After all, there are seven years of stories to tell,..
I shall focus on the time period from Winter Solstice, 2O23, up until now, June 2O23.
In this six month window we have gotten a functional website up and running from scratch; MANY legal needs were completed, specifically, a pile of contracts; the final draft of the film AND all the episode versions were completed; our DistroKid Account was established for forthcoming digital distribution; I’ve written six “Letters To Josh” Blogs - and now this one; Ana Cerbone has delivered the final card art, the coloring book pages, and the poster designs - all of which are comprised of 23 separate designs, for a total of 69 art specimens; nearly all debt has been paid off, with only $7OO in balances remaining as of this writing; and most importantly,
in the last six months I have been learning how to keep moving without Josh Kobel by my side.
As I write it all out I feel a sense of accomplishment that was slightly in a deficit prior to now.
There are times it seems that I am making no progress at all, but that is rarely the case when one is consistently devoting time and effort towards an on-going passion project such as this.
Big boulders move slowly, even with many hands..
Fortunately I have a few sets of hands helping, primarily those of Harpist Maevyn Stone.
She has been deeply instrumental in helping with the website, social media, and strategizing.
Of course I also want to graciously acknowledge:
Video Editor, Nick Venuti
Artist, Ana Cerbone
Engineer, Joey Papa
Legal Consultant, Les Scott
At this point in time, these members of the team assist in making it ALL possible.
The Future:
Beyond the list of current projects listed above, the next lineup of goals is just as intense.
I will stretch my intentions scope out to Winter Solstice, starting June 21st to Dec 21st, 2O23:
Without putting pen to the calendar, as many variables exist which are not totally in my control,
it is my plan to have music out on Spotify, Itunes, etc by, OR shortly after Yule / January 2O24.
This will include updating accounts to Pro-Memberships, and scheduling all releases.
As much as I want to put a hard date on it, I simply cannot just yet.
The website AND its membership portal will be FULLY complete and accessible for Patrons, as well as all written content, galleries, links, hashtags, and connections to social media platforms.
Merchandise availability from both the digital store and in-person transactions - full product line.
ALL remaining legal documents completed; after the current few are taken care of there is still the massive project of filing all the official copyright forms, registering the music with BMI, and tending to remaining art, photo, and newspaper clearances - this can easily take a few months.
Full color promo postcards already in distribution - I’d like this to be ready by July 1, 2O23 for festival season, as I will be doing a fair amount of traveling and events throughout the Summer.
The MASSIVE book will be completed - there is still a LOT to finish, but a lot is already finished.
All blogs completed and published on schedule through Yule, and….
Establishment of an LLC and bank accounts under the Clark & Kobel business as well as securing appropriate trademark protections and filings for all relevant classes of business
Surely there is to be more that I am not thinking of, but this creates a road map for me.
Without the map it is hard to see the steps that need to be taken.
This map will have some substantial monetary, time, and energetic costs, but that is expected,
I do think that it’s all achievable however, I just need to follow the plan and stay on it.
It seems like these have been the “goals for the year” for many years now..
That’s because they HAVE been.
I have been guilty of being a little too optimistic or unrealistic with my deadline completions,
BUT in all fairness to myself, many delays have been a result of external variables, most often
other people, but it’s ok because we want everything done with high quality, and mindfulness.
It all gets done when it gets done as long as it’s getting done - plain and simple…
And it IS all getting done.
Seven years of non-stop work, what’s another six months, right?..
It DOES fire me up to know that I am closer than ever to having ALL the pieces in place.
Six months ago I was not where I am today, so there is a lot of satisfaction and gratitude in that.
I conclude this entry, feeling renewed vigor about the days, weeks, and months to come.
With many of the goals already in some stage of their respective processes I feel optimistic.
If my targeting ends up being slightly off the bullseye of the intended timeline, so be it.
I know that the arrow will hit its mark even if it takes a few extra tries or if there are delays.
I look forward to “officializing” these updates via this blog series as I anticipate that they
will serve as a useful tool for project accountability tracking, and as current time-capsules.
Until now keeping record of the journey has been sprawled out across occasional social media posts and live streams, one-off blogs, and most comprehensively, our project companion book.
With that, I bid you farewell for now.
I’ll catch up with y’all again on August 1st for my Lughnasadh update post!!
Thanks for reading, and please do keep checking back for updates at ClarkAndKobel.com
Till next time,
JC