Today, for example, the hour spent writing would have otherwise been spent swimming. As it was, I had just enough time to stock the Lekker Bakery, DMV, and Mat Su Borough building, to which I say p-tooey again.
However, the time spent writing was time well spent. Some days, like today, I do not generate a lot of copy. But I instead have ahh haa moments that I would not have had otherwise.
Today I skipped to the near end of Shelf Life and work on the section in which I decide to resume writing. The ahh haa moment came when I realized that the question that I have been considering is not why have a board but rather why be a nonprofit? This is definitely more all-encompassing, say, than the question why have a board? The answer to this question comes to me as I’m attending the Foraker Group Summit.
I say that I am (at this point in time) wearing one hat, which is my nonprofit hat and that it’s slightly askew. But (I’m going to add) even though it’s slightly askew, this head ornamentation is important, as is the hat that I’m not wearing, which is my writing hat.
I haven’t gotten there yet in my narrative, but I am going to develop the fine art of swapping hats since it is impossible to wear both hats simultaneously.
I get home and resume wearing my writer’s hat. This after having figured out how it came to be that I ceased to write. The first answer is time related. The second answer is that in handling so many books by so many writers, I determined that I didn’t want to add further to the growing slush pile. The third answer is that I was procrastinating. Writing is like running – getting going is difficult. And it’s easy to forget how difficult it is, until the next day when you again have to take the first step.
I resume writing, in part to reclaim my writerly identity. And I resume writing because I have a story to tell. My first audience is me, the second is those who are directly associated with the project, and the third audience are those who I’d like to see associated with the project.
I wrote for surprise today. I presumed that what I did write would come later. I took an unexpected leap. Now I must go back and retrace some steps.
That hour that I spent working today. It was time well spent.
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