Live It Up!

Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable.
-- Wendy Wasserstein

quoted at She Writes


(I also think one can stay in and do something remarkable.)

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Vivid Reminders to Live Boldly

These trees are across the street from my office. Fall color can be an irresistible reminder to dare to live with one's innate flair.




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After Four Years of Procrastination ....

Last week I committed myself here on this very blog to finish by last night a project that has been sitting on my desk at home for four years. This job was to go through the thousands of slides and negatives and B&W prints from the years when I was doing a great deal of travel writing. And to sort, cull, and properly store the ones I want to keep.

Done!!!!

And only because I staked myself out here publicly.

If I hadn't made a public commitment, I'd have put it off once again. Once I got going it probably took five hours, spread out over two days. Could have done it years ago. But I've finally done it and I'm thrilled.

I highly recommend a public commitment for anything you want to get done. Care to make yourself a promise today? Feel free to do it here.



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The Funny Thing about Procrastination

Thursday morning, I started working on a little project that has been sitting unfinished on my desk at home for FOUR YEARS!!!!

The wee task is culling and properly storing the photos I took in the many years when I was doing a lot of travel writing. They have been sitting in little yellow boxes and ancient plastic slide sheets in a blue steamer trunk. The trunk was full. Thousands of pictures of places I've been: Jerusalem, Krakov, Quito, Kerala, Chapel Hill...

In the late fall of 2006, I realized that, if I wanted to keep any of them, they would have to be put in archival plastic sheets, not the kind that stick to the emulsion.

And so I began.

You might think that this would be a very pleasant project, and it is, but just too large, and such an interruption of my precious reading-and-crossword-puzzles leisure time. Also there's the enormous number of slides, all reminding me of a moment, and each one requiring a decision: keep or toss. Toss? Keep.

So I allowed myself to be distracted by a teaching assignment. Now, almost exactly four years later, I'm back to the slides again, and determined to finish. I'm only a couple of inches from the bottom of the trunk.

What I discovered was that I could have finished what was left of this project in one weekend, and done it long ago.

I can probably wrap it up now in three or four nostalgic hours. The feeling of actually getting close to the end is wonderful.

This phenomenon was well-described in a recent Daily Om message. Here's how it begins:

"Most of us have had the experience of tackling some dreaded task only to come out the other side feeling invigorated, filled with a new sense of confidence and strength. The funny thing is, most of the time when we do them, we come out on the other side changed and often wondering what we were so worried about or why it took us so long. We may even begin to look for other tasks we’ve been avoiding so that we can feel that same heady mix of excitement and completion."

I can't say that I'm currently hunting other stale mega-projects to tackle, but maybe when the last slide goes to its permanent home. Then I'll see the amount of space in the room and exult. I wouldn't be at all surprised.


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Bold Bonus Life: House-sitting

I had no idea that house-sitting was an industry.

In August, when I enjoyed a three-week bonus life as a "a New York writer," I was staying in a studio of a daughter of a friend of a friend. It was an informal arrangement. And I was thrilled to get the chance to do it.

House-sitting is good way to work in an extra life in a different state or country. Or even in the same town.

This week, when a friend mentioned that his college student daughter was certified as a sitter and also had nanny skills, I learned that there is more to it than I brought to the job. And that some folks make it a way of life.

Therefore there are tips, referral agencies, policies, standards,and such. If you're looking for an extra life "sitting" somewhere, a good starting point is this job description of house-sitting. BTW, this is Bold Bonus Life Tip #8.

Apparently, when I killed one of Manhattan homeowner Audrey Hepburn's plants, I should have been bonded.




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Not Feeling Like Writing

In the last couple of months, I haven't been at all in the mood to write. And I've taken some time away from it.

However this week and last week, I did it anyway, which is more typically my strategy.

But I did it quickly, without looking back, without being very impressed, without much giving a damn.

Then in my regular feedback group today, I read the last week's worth. (I hadn't so much as looked it over since tapping out the rough draft.)

They liked it.

They thought it worked.

Intellectually I know that working with a light touch (not caring very much) can be very effective. The writing usually doesn't sound labored, trying-too-hard.

But in the moment, writing while you don't give a damn doesn't feel like a good strategy. Not all that much fun either.

Nonetheless. I'll be at it again tomorrow.

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The Courage to Run

Thanks to all who were so helpful in my brother Harry's campaign for judge. He didn't win this one. And this is the first race out of his nine political campaigns that he ever lost. It seemed to me, after he won his first at age 27 against a long-established incumbent and two other fearsome and well-funded opponents, that he would always win.

Well, that's almost never true.

This new outcome is disappointing to me. And he's being a champ about it. The candidate who appears to have won -- and it's not yet settled -- is a good person of similar philosophies; and that's some comfort. (It's certainly not true in a lot of the contests decided yesterday.)

As is usually true, with more than two candidates in a number of races, more people lost than won.

This fact brings to mind again a thought I've often had: what courage it takes for people to run for public office.

It's so public.

It's like being a writer and having every rejection in the news -- in detail.

I know that some politicians are as slippery as the stereotype portrays. But many aren't. Some, like brother Harry, are scrupulously decent people.

And people in politics don't get the proper credit for the guts it takes to be so public.

In every area of life, and especially in public life, it takes a lot of courage to run the race.

Thanks to all who have the boldness to run.




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Bold Campaigning (Cam-Payning?)

When it's your brother who's running for office, you'll do all sorts of bold and marginally undignified things. Like standing beside a highway in a startling coat for four hours, waving and grinning at every single car that passes.

That's how strongly I feel about Harry Payne being elected to be a NC Appeals Court judge.

Out on the roadside Saturday, lifelong family friend and architect Paul Boney kept me company and did the lion's share of holding the banner up against the gusts of wind. Prior to this day, we had between us already suffered three sports injuries of the shoulders and elbows. Yet we kept the sign aloft; through hours of UNC game traffic, our flag was still there.

It was so much fun. Paul and I had about 58 years of people and places in common to chat about. And I felt as if we were getting another vote or three with every honking car that passed. I also felt, by the end of our shift, as if I'd sailed a small boat twenty miles, which is a good feeling. I was so glad I did it...

Because Harry is such a good fair guy.

He has been Labor Commissioner for the state for two terms, served six terms in the state Legislature, and spent seven years as Employment Security Commissioner.

My psychologist husband Bob Dick is even doing a radio ad today that says: Vote for my brother-in-law Harry Payne -- He changed my mind about politicians and lawyers -- I'd never known such an ethical and good-hearted person could function so well in those jobs.

If you're in North Carolina, please vote for Harry Payne for Appeals Court judge. If you're outside this fine state, I hope you'll contact all your friends here and ask them to cast a vote for Harry.

BTW, the candidate himself took the picture above. He boldly ventured into tall grass to get the shot.



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