I spent all morning working with a brilliant web maestro who converted Hollywood Elsewhere to WordPress. We’ve been trying to make the new re-design look right, and it just won’t. And then I spent a long time having an email argument with a close colleague who thinks the design we’re working on is basically shit and that I’m moving too fast. (I want to get this done before flying to Germany.) He’s telling me that I need to hire a serious pro. But I don’t want to re-invent the wheel here.

You have to be good at a certain craft or art form (as I am with writing) to know when you’re not so good at something else. I am at best a mediocre designer. My design tastes are overly conservative. But I have a reasonably good sense of visual balance and I know when something looks pretty good or at least tolerable. But I’m not good enough to amaze myself. Which is why I feel beat and beaten.