issue two : perfection {who's telling you you're not?}

March 1, 2016 - Daily Notes, From the Editor

We set out last year to create a new kind of magazine for women. One with no advertising that inspires and enlightens, gives voice to the heart, and celebrates true beauty.

Today we release Issue Two : Perfection and my ribcage can barely contain the thrumming of the big organ beneath it. I am proud.

I think perfectionism is the whole reason we need Lucia.

Women's magazines for decades have been made possible by advertising. You know the kind I'm talking about. It's slick and suggestive of a very dangerous idea: That you, beautiful you, are not perfect but you can be if you buy what they're selling. 

See that model? She's perfect. See that family running on the beach? They are too. See that girl whose body is five times tinier than her muscle-bound boyfriend? Her life is totally in order. What's wrong with you? Buy our stuff. It will solve your problems.

"As long as we are under the illusion that we're supposed to be perfect, our capacity for love is diminished," my friend Dani said during what has become our ritual Sunday night phone call. She was talking about love relationships, but it applies to every aspect of life. "Compassion comes from having made painful mistakes. I think we hold ourselves to too-high standards."

These standards...how many of them come from what we see in women's magazines today? I made the decision Perfection would be the theme for Issue Two, before Issue One : Inspiration was even finished.

Lucia is still fledgling. I don't know yet if we will survive this early-stage and grow the kind of wings that can fly onto newsstands all over the world. The path doesn't have perfect stair steps, one after the other. It winds around, there are dark spots, and big hurdles. My best friends encourage me, our readers say "please, keep going." This work feels meaningful and important. Each day I do more.

I am thrilled to share Issue Two with you. A limited number are available to order from our website today. You might catch a glimpse of Lucia in selected Whole Foods and Barnes & Noble stores. We even make an appearance in the Crate & Barrel 2016 Spring Catalog! {Don't mind the perfect bedroom scene...nobody's looks like that in real life and it is okay...messy is better anyway.}

xo
laura

there aren't any mistakes

“Just ask yourself, what is the NEXT right move? Because there aren’t any mistakes.”

— Oprah

February 24, 2016, Daily Notes, From the Editor

Sample copies of Issue Two of Lucia arrived last week. I was so overwhelmed with my day job and the accompanying client communications (emails, deadlines, deliverables) that for a couple of hours I just let the FedEx box sit on my kitchen table. Unopened.

Our design advisor Karly's package must have arrived at the same time mine did because I got a text message with a photograph of her holding the new issue, "Congrats, lady, she is gorgeous!"

That's when it hit me. I am not too busy to open that FedEx package. I am too scared.

Why? Because my ducks are not all in a perfect row yet. I thought they would be by now. I haven't lined up the draft emails and blog posts and order buttons and social media messages and website photographs and new sales plans and...these things are all quacking around in my brain like a flock of nervous chaos with feathers. 

I want them all in perfect order before opening that box. I want to be breathing calmly and have everything prepared so it will fall effortlessly into place.

Perfectionism is an insidious and debilitating state of mind. Just when I think I've conquered my addiction to being seen as perfect, I catch myself putting joy on hold and refusing to open the most treasured creation I've made in months until I can write a perfect email about it and have a bulletproof plan for exactly how everything will unfold from here.

Karly's text snapped me back to reality. Ready or not, Issue Two is here. It's all about perfection. Which is, well, perfect.

Today I'm working to herd those fluttering plans into line because on March 1 we'll be unveiling the new cover and shipping Issue Two : Perfection.

There is a little piece of paper pinned to the bulletin board above my iMac as I work. It has some words I heard Oprah Winfrey say recently: Just ask yourself, what is the NEXT right move? Because there aren't any mistakes.

My next move is to upload the pre-orders we've received. One step at a time, I keep going. Whatever you are creating, I hope you will too.

xo
laura

do the next thing

January 29, 2016 - Daily Notes

Some days, everything happens all at once. 

You have a cold so you sleep in and when you wake up you remember that it is the last Friday in January and things are due. You owe emails, taxes, bills, reports, invoices and drafts. You have two afternoon appointments and a conference call on your calendar. You need coffee. You shower and stumble to Starbucks and they make you a venti when you ordered a tall but today that is a really good thing because:

Magic on the doorstep when you get back home...the FedEx man dropped a box of PROOFS from your printer...the proofs for Issue Two of Lucia are here and you were not expecting them until Monday. You squeal delight through your sore throat, nearly drop your cup and your umbrella, and rush to carry the box in from the rain. 

You consider for a moment not opening it until tomorrow. There is so much work to do today. You leave the box on the dining room table and head to your computer and the moment you sit down you know you cannot focus on anything else until this beauty is out of that box. So you go back to the dining room table that doubles as your layout desk and you rip open the package.

Stunned, you can barely breathe. The cover is more gorgeous than it looked on the computer screen. Everything is. Oh, my, god. You did this! It's here. You snap a photo in your excitement, dash to the computer to write a quick note on the blog to share the excitement with Lucia's growing family.

Your to-do list is still there, though. It is still long and everything is urgent. You remember what Pema Chodron says to do when you feel overwhelmed. She says to take a deep breath, feel your heart, and move into the next moment with an open mind. Then, simply do the next thing. Do it with your entire heart, give it all of your attention. When it is done, do the next thing. 

You smile. You did this. WE did this. 

xo,
laura