I have a tendency to want to try it all, and then I often wonder why I can’t find balance in my life. In fact, the older I get, the more I discover that I can usually only handle juggling three things at a time. Especially if I want to have any real success in each arena. Now, I’m speaking of three areas in my life, not specific tasks. For instance, if I’m doing really well in my career, my husband and I are getting along great, and I am going to the gym a few days of the week, my house is probably a disaster. So, why the heck did I decide to start working and creating my own magazine? My only real answer is passion. After working as an Art Director for a couple of plastics magazines the last few years, and now being away from it for a while, I have realized that I miss it! There are so many things about designing a magazine that I miss, even though I am loving owning my own company and freelancing. Mostly because 80% of what I do now, is photography. I certainly didn’t have that opportunity or the creative freedom that I have now, when I was working for a large publisher. So, I figured why not? If I can make the time by working on TUSK at night and keep it to a few simple pages, I might be able to handle this. In true form for me, I only decided I wanted to go after this project two days ago. Now, I’m sitting here with a few pages roughed and I’m writing my first ever letter from the Editor. Ha, Just typing that makes me think of how far from an acutal editor I am. But, the truth is I love to write, and I always have. It’s another form of creation and art for me. However, after working with amazing writers and managing editors, I know how much schooling, and time, true editors invest into their craft. So please forgive me when you find mistakes and realize I am an artist first off, and only a wannabe writer. Hey, here’s a good time to ask - if there are any inspiring writers out there that want to donate their time to edit for TUSK, please contact me. After all, I am currently designing, writing, and producing the photography.

When I woke my husband up late a few nights ago and told him about my idea to create a small magazine, I realized a few important things. First and foremost, I did not want to do this for money. I’m not going to think about marketing or who will read it (or maybe more realistically, the millions that won’t be reading it) or, if it will be successful. I simply want to do it for fun. So many projects in my life have so many parameters. So many walls and directions that must be followed. I figured I would approach this with abandon. Write about things I want to write about whether they make good sense or not. I will let this simply evolve or go extinct in the next few months. Only the future knows that, however, I want to thank you for reading my first ever issue. It really does mean so much to me.

Denise
contactdenise@faddiscreative.com