So here it is, the day after the day after. I’m sure i have often referred you to The Official Rules and The Official Explanations edited by Paul Dickson. Both books are collections of rules and explanations—lovely quotations by various people, some well-known and some not, about coping with life. I looked them up just now. My copies are very old but you can get new ones now
“The all new, annotated, illustrated and even more definitive collection of laws, principles and instructions for getting along in the real world” is available on--where else?- -Amazon.
I think of them often,and have shared many of my favourites with you. One oft quoted came to mind this morning when I saw yet another blog gone by the wayside.
“Before you do anything, you have to do something else first.”
That’s what happens for many a blank blog day. I do something else first.
As always, it’s a case of priorities. As some of you lurkers know, I am trying to finish a rewrite of a screenplay, long overdue, and I realized I have to do some more research. So it’s in abeyance until I find out what I need to know. The good news is, my blog comes first today because I can’t do much until I check out what I need to know to finish the rewrite. You see? Before you do anything, you have to do something else.
Fortunately— or not—I have so many things to do I don’t have any trouble filing the gap, except that I do get tired. Naps often come first.
I remember reading long ago now because the discussion involved Jacqueline Kennedy when she was still a Kennedy. Someone wrote in a letter to the editor of LHJ (remember Ladies’ Home Journal?) that it would be easier to diet if she didn’t have to cope with the kids’ leftover lunches. This mother wrote that she was sure that Mrs.Kennedy didn’t have to eat a leftover peanut butter sandwich from her kid’s lunch box. Someone else took care of it.
It all boils down to money. Money is time. If you have energy, you have more time. If you have more time, you need less money. If you have more money, you can buy time and or energy. That’s a messy equation but you get the point. I don’t have enough money to buy another person’s time or energy and I can longer rely on an unsolicited gift of either. If I can’t do a job myself I have to wait until I have the time and energy to do it.
This may sound bleak, but as a writer I am well trained to (endure?’ suffer?) tolerate delayed gratification. I can wait.
I hope you can too.