Entry 561 — Trying (Again) to be Methodical
Here’s my present situation: in a month-and-a-half, I will have space for an exhibition of some twenty of my framed works at the building shared by the local arts & humanities council and the local chamber of commerce. Since I’m almost 71, it is imperative that I take full advantage of this opportunity, my main remaining life’s goal being to win sufficient LargeWorld recognition to feel secure that I’ve indeed accomplished the main thing I’ve spent my life pursuing: at least one cultural work of world-class importance, in this case, my poetic oeuvre. Meanwhile, in certain literary circles there’s a lot of commotion about who wrote the works of Shakespeare, something I’ve published two editions of a book on. I have what should be the final version of that book under way at this time. I really really needed to have gotten it published a month ago to take advantage of the interest in its subject. I dawdled. My health limited me, too. In any case, finishing that book as soon as possible is another pressing need of mine.
Meanwhile, there’s the pact I made with myself to get a blog entry posted daily. I’m dutybound to show up for my tennis team’s practices and matches. Otherwise, all I really have to do is co shopping once in a while, take out the garbage now and then, do the laundry when the dirty clothes have piled up, etc. So, taking all this into consideration, how do I organize my time for the next three-and-a-half months or so?
Take things one at a time is the obvious cliche to follow. There’s also Thoreau’s “Our life is frittered away by detail . . . Simplify, simplify.” And the dictum: “Be Methodical,” something I’ve tried for many times, sometimes even successfully if rarely for very long. The first step, I’m pretty sure, is to do what I’m now doing: get a decent idea of the situation down on paper–or, in this case, onto a computer file. A list of what has to be done, when. It would seem I’vemore or less done that here. I have to do three things daily without fail: work on my book, work on my exhibition, and get a blog entry written and posted. Tennis four times a week (which I should be able to combine with whatever shopping I need to do, on the way back from tennis.) Everything else when forced to.
It’d be nice if I could concentrate on just one Important, Difficult Chore–in this case, either the book or the exhibition–but I don’t think I can. So I must simply spend a few hours each day on one of the two, take a break, then shift to the other. If things go at all well, I should be able to make a daily blog entry out of what I’ve been doing with regard to one or the other of these. (Yes, my blog will be even more boring than it usually is.) To be more specific, I need to schedule the material to be treated for my book. I already have them divided into four or five subjects. Here I can use the one thing at a time procedure. When done with them, I should be able to step back and determine what else needs to be done, and how it should be done.
I think the one thing at a time should be right for the exhibition, too: just choose one work for it each day, and do whatever needs to be done with it–i.e., print it, find or buy a frame for it and frame it. But I also need to list other jobs I need to get done, such as a hand-out for visitors. Make that, “hand-outs.“ One a list of my publications, exhibitions if my works, and the like; another of how to go about gaining an appreciation of my work. . . . Maybe copies of a few of my works.
That’s all for today. I had tennis this morning (I was terrible), and a dinner honoring a tennis friend who recently died later today. Tomorrow I’ll begin in earnest.