In
the Beginning...
In the fall of 1982, I was finishing my first book, a 44-chapter survival manual (left) for the new teachers in the University of New Mexico’s Graduate Intern program, for which I was the coordinator. Hand-typed, the cover “art” created from rub-on letters and a graphic from an ancient Mad magazine, which eventually became my company’s first logo, the product was a little rough. (The handbook above is actually the second-generation version with a glossy, printed cover! The original came with a plain manilla card-stock cover. Seriously.)
I
was working full-time at the University when I started this business,
though by 1985, I was no longer even teaching classes there. In 1986,
I was joined by my husband, Jerry Tereszkiewicz, who left the construction
work (which basically paid the bills and kept us fed while I was getting
the business off the ground) to work with me full-time.
Meanwhile, I concentrated my time on my writing and building my speaking resume! Between traveling, writing, distributing not only my own books and resources, but also about 300 other resources from 50 other publishers— plus learning all the “business stuff” you don’t generally pick up when learning to become a teacher, the confusion and challenges I saw in my logo (above) seemed particularly appropriate.
Lots of movement and growth those first few years. Starting the business in a corner of the den and eventually taking over a second bedroom, we soon built a separate, semi-permanent 12’ x 24’ building and a storage shed in the back yard. By 1995, though, even that space was feeling a little tight! We moved to our current location in October 1995 and took over most of the downstairs (and a large portion of the garage) with the business.
I was, at that time, beginning to do more international work, taking a whole lot of computer classes, and writing a new book every year or two. But our next big priority was getting online! After two different people I had hired to create my site ended up not completing the work, I figured I may as well just do it myself. A new ISP and web host, and a few intense lessons with GoLive (the web-development software I used to create my first site) and I was on my way.
The
image on the left is a screen shot of my home page as I’m typing
this. I’ve switched to a dedicated Web hosting service, and will
continue pointing visitors to the old site until this new one— including
the page you’re currently reading— is complete!
This site worked well, but by the beginning of 2002, I felt like it needed a bit of a makeover. A new logo, new colors, new layout and a few Web design features I hadn’t known about previously entered the picture. Looking back on the old site, I’m grateful for the help I had to get started. It really worked and, to me, is still a very nice graphic design. So I guess I needed to include this page, and these graphics, to honor what was.
Interestingly, after years of building the business up, I find myself now slowing down, walking a narrower path, and being a lot more focused in the work I’m doing. To see where this path leads, check on what I’ve been up to from time to time on this site. It’ll be a good place to see what new kinds of history I’m making!
(Originally written in the summer of 2003.)
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