You Change Your Dress, You Change Your Shoes...

...The one thing you can't change is you.

My name is Eddie and I am a procrastinator. Is there a Procrastinator's Anonymous? I need one. I need a butt kicking sponsor who won't believe my bulls#!t. I need a concerned party who will not stop believing in me while they are locking the doors to the Google cabinet. I need recipes for distraction free living. I need to finish my book.

For me, the editing process is not nearly as worry free as the composition stage. When I am writing I am generally functioning in pure adrenaline mode. The story flows from my fingers, shiny and fun. I am consumed. I dream about my characters, my setting, my plot. At this stage, everything I write is brilliant - funny - emotionally true. It is a euphoric feeling. When in the first blush of writing I will often corner unsuspecting friends and family member to read a paragraph, a page, a perfect sentence - smugly confident in my own brilliance.

Editing sheds the harsh light of reality on my scribblings. Disjointed sentences are trumped by poorly illuminated ideas. What was screamingly funny in the writing process is now hopelessly banal. What was sharp wit turns into bog-laden description. Editing forces me to face the truth - writing is hard work. a book is a sculpture, a painting, a mosaic. It is NOT a digital photo taken with auto-focus and perfect natural light.

So, procrastination be damned! I will finish this book, because I must. Even if I don't like it very much right now.

In a Funk... and Not Feeling Like Dancing.

Sometimes life is a good analogy (bowl of cherries, sailing along, a breeze, a lark), and sometimes it is bad reality (In the doldrums, hard times, the pits, it sucks). I can accept these ups and downs as a regular part of life. In fact, I kind of enjoy the roller-coaster nature of my life in general.

This year, however, I am dealing with a new kind of challenge. My life is alright. Not good, not bad, just alright. I don't cope well without crises, without excitement. I find myself waking up to... meh.

I think it might be time to stir things up a bit.

I'll keep you posted.

Of Summer Days and Snow - Spring in the Rockies

Spring in the Rocky Mountains can be unpredictable to say the least. In the last two days alone we have seen 81 degree weather followed by 4 inches of snow. Residents here have the wearing of layers down to a science.