Terri Clark singing "I Want To Do It All"
". . . I wanna spend a day
Every now and then
Just doin what I want to do
When I wanna do it
Anytime I wanna do it
I wanna do it all
Visit Paris in the fall
Watch the Yankee's play ball
I wanna take it all in
Catch a few beads
Down at Mardi Gras
Start a tradition
Lay down the law
I wanna do it all
See Niagara falls
Fight city hall
Feel good in my skin
Beating the odds
With my back to the wall
Try to rob Peter
Without paying Paul
I wanna do it all
I wanna do it all
I wanna do it all"
I'm pretty sure that I am not the only one in Blogland who feels the same way on this subject: not enough time (and money) to do it all. I have so many ideas, and a lot of desire and drive, but I'm not going to be able to do everything that I want to do. Or see everything that I want to see. Or spend time with everybody that I want to spend time with.
I feel like I need to kick into high gear somehow, but I know that I already really busy and at least I am producing. I'm not generating any income though, and I need some. So, I think that I have to settle down and figure out how to use my blog as a platform to help me get some. No, I'm not talking about plastering it with ads!
What I really want to do is write stories and books and settle down to work on my history project, The Early Oregon Series. Carving out time for writing seems to be the hardest thing of all. It is getting to be like going to the end of a 12-step meeting where they say, "Does anybody have a burning desire to talk?" I have a burning desire to write, but I feel like I have to get everything else organized first before I can sit down and concentrate on that. I'm the only one who can write my stuff; it isn't something that I can delegate.
I want to reorganize my sewing and crafting areas (I just figured out how to do that last night) and begin to make my dolls, toys, baby blankets, diapers and whatever else. I need to set up an Esty shop to sell those things, along with my cards, calendars and photography. I need to set up my little vintage trailer to use as a gift shop, and hold festivals with a few of my crafting friends several times this summer. My sister-in-law wants to make dolls and sock monkeys with me, and I can enlist help and teach others to do that part of my work, thank goodness.
That is all a lot of work. One great idea involves about 50 little steps to even get started. And, it is still snowing outside, so I go back and forth between winter mode and spring/summer mode.
Other goals for this summer: paint the inside of the house, make a garden, and do a photo-shoot of every lake and campground along The Cascade Lakes Highway. I want to go to Seattle for a Mariners game, spend time up the McKenzie, go on a boat to the middle of Clear Lake (and look down at the petrified forest and take tons of photos). I want to go back to The Homestead Village Museum in Fort Rock, when the doors are unlocked and tours are being held and take more pictures and learn more of their history. I want to explore more of The Oregon Outback and Eastern Oregon. I want to go to Saturday Market in Eugene, and go to The Oregon Country Fair and take tons of pictures. You guys will love all of those photos, I promise!
I want to make books out of my pictures using Blurb.com or a similar program. I want to go to Portland and stay at the new McMenamins. I want to go to Shaniko and to The Mohawk Valley and take pictures. Some of the things that I want to do only involve a day drive and a bit of gas, but still, there are so many things that I want to do and see.
For places further away, I want to go to New Orleans with Cary, and to Mississippi, Alaska, Arkansas and other southern states. Not sure when that is ever going to happen, as that all involves spending money and time and Cary's agreement ... probably not this year.
I also someday want to watch the Red Sox and the Yankees play in Fenway Park, and attend another Jimmy Buffett concert.
I do not have a desire to travel abroad. I do want to travel the U.S. and document it with my photography. Man, reading this all over, it seems that the pictures are the most important part of everything for me. Photography is my passion (along with my best friend husband, of course)! Taking pictures of everyday life is my thing. Lucky for me, most of what I want to do is very local ... there is so much to see and do right here within 45 minutes or an hour of where we live. And, lucky for me, taking pictures comes naturally. I love it and never want to stop, but it is writing that is my real challenge.
As far as pictures and blogs, there are holes on the internet, you guys. I don't know why, but there are many small communities that are relatively undocumented online. If you live in one of those or have one dear to your heart, why not start a website about it? Show us your world! My friends, Karla and her husband Ralph, did that with Tombstone, Arizona. They moved there a few years ago to begin a church, and have created a wonderful resource: Picture Tombstone. It is hard to believe that before they got there a couple of years ago, there wasn't a website like this about their famous little town. Good job, you guys!
So, there's my stuff that I want to do. What are the things that you want to do? The places that you want to see? What are your goals for the summer and fall? I'd love to hear about them.
Well, I'd better get off of here. I think that I am going to go and get down to some serious household reorganization so that I can function around here. Stay tuned for some before and after pictures over the next couple of weeks.
I hope that whatever it is that you want to do, that you can get most of it done. Best of luck!
Kathy
P.S. - Oh, and I still have to squeeze time in each day to read. Stephen King say's "If you don't have time to read, you don't have time to write." I figure that even if I'm not writing except anywhere else but my blog, I am learning new things and observing how others write their books. Lucky for me, I'm exhausted by the end of the day, and I lay down on the couch and read in the living room while watching baseball or whatever else is on t.v., a few feet away from my sweetie. Life really is good right now.
P.S. - Oh, and I still have to squeeze time in each day to read. Stephen King say's "If you don't have time to read, you don't have time to write." I figure that even if I'm not writing except anywhere else but my blog, I am learning new things and observing how others write their books. Lucky for me, I'm exhausted by the end of the day, and I lay down on the couch and read in the living room while watching baseball or whatever else is on t.v., a few feet away from my sweetie. Life really is good right now.
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6 comments:
Wow, you do have a lot ahead of you if you put some of your plans into action. There is so much to do (both the fun kind and the necessary kind), and NEVER enough time. But, good luck--plunge in and "go for it". Have a nice week. Mickie :)
Now this one is what I've been looking for. Would be giving you credits on the way how you deliver this great insight. Such an interesting story.
The Energizer Bunny is gonna sue you for copyright infringement! LOL You amaze me. I don't know how you'll do it all, but if you've decided you're going to, I don't doubt you will. Thanks for bringing the rest of us along for the ride. :)
You certainly have a full bucket list. The only thing worse is not having any wanna dos.
Just start nibbling away, you will get it all done or at least the ones that give you the most pleasure. I agree with Steven.
Thank you, everybody. I figure that I'll get most of it done eventually, until I get some new ideas and some of the things get crossed off the list that way.
Have a great week!
Wow, Kathy! You have quite the list. I was tired just reading it! Good luck with all of that! I'm sure you will accomplish the things that are closest to your heart. :-)
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