Thinking it and Doing it

Having crossed the scary bridge on Sark. (Picture Roger Hyland)

Thinking it and doing it are two very different activities.  Thinking it is fun.  Doing it is graft. Why is there such a big gap between imagination and action and why is that bridge so hard to cross?

 

I love learning.  Learning new stuff is exciting, a voyage of discovery.  Then there’s putting into practice the things you’ve learned.  That’s harder.  In some cases we never make that transition from learning it to doing it. 

So why is that?  Is it laziness?  Why am I stopping myself from doing the things I tell myself I want to do?

When I was a child I decided to be a writer.  And I just kept writing, so I was a writer. I worked hard.  I kept going. Eventually,  I became a published author.  Why can’t I transfer this determination to other things I want to do? 

I gave up singing because I never practiced enough between lessons, but I still fantasised about singing in concerts and shows, pictured myself standing there and wowing the crowd.  Ha!  Recently I had a lesson after a 20 year gap.  I loved it and got a real buzz, and I’ve started to think about all the songs I want to do but have I practised?  I think you know the answer. 

Today I went for a run.  I’m making exceedingly slow progress considering I took it up over a year ago.  I frustrate myself with my lack of willpower, still picturing a future me with a svelte frame and bags of energy.  The health benefits should be motivation enough.

It’s not that I don’t run, or never practised at all.  I’m inconsistent with my efforts and all too easily make excuses for myself.

So, back to the writing.  Well, now I apply the same lack of consistency to this, too.  Marketing is fun.  Blogging, part of the marketing, is also fun.  Writing a novel is hard work. I compare writing a novel to building a house.  Laying the foundations, stacking the bricks – that’s hard slog.  But decorating the house – that’s the fun part.  Like promoting the novel.  It’s great to play with categories and tinker with search keywords, and experiment with social media.  More fun than laying bricks.

I’m not playing down the importance of marketing – I love marketing and it’s been my job for over 25 years.  I just find it easier than writing a novel.  That’s how I see it. 

Do you prefer building your house or decorating it?

Related post: http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-art-of-time-management.html

Lighting my fire

Names matter.  They evoke, suggest, depict.  They create atmosphere and emotion.   

I give things names.  I label them.  It gives them life, personality.  My Samsung notebook is Nettie.   My red Citroen C4 is Belinda.  Don’t ask me why.  When I looked at her parked in the space outside my flat I just knew she was Belinda.  Why not a French name for a French car?  Who knows? 

I have not yet named my Kindle, however.  Because I think the name given  to my e-reader is sufficient and, actually, perfect.   I love my Kindle.  It wasn’t love at first sight, not at all.  More of a slow burner,  appropriately.  But the word, Kindle, is so apt and clever.   It suggests igniting a fire, and also kin (ship), family.  Familiar.   After initial scepticism and the assertion that it could never replace the feel, the texture of a paper book,  I now read more than I ever have for years.  I still love books, but there’s definitely room for both, as the reading experience each offers is both different and complimentary.  What is so appealing about the Kindle is the fact that you can have so much on the one device and I can chop and change between essays, novels, non-fiction, etc.  It suits the way my brain works as my mind often jumps about when I read.  At the moment, I am simultaneously reading Amazon’s free guides to publishing direct on the kindle; a novel by Douglas Kennedy called The Moment; First you write: the worst way to become an almost famous author by Joni Rogers; and a recent discovery for me, Living, Thinking, Looking: essays by Siri Hustvedt,  which marries my fascination with philosophy and neuroscience. 

This leads to the other aspect of e-readers that excites me – I can see a book on Amazon that interests me and a few clicks and seconds later, I am reading it.  I often download a free sample and then go on to buy the book.   My appetite for reading is now almost as voracious as when I was a child, which delights me greatly.  The fire has been rekindled.

Related posts:

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-books-and-reading-and-pony-books.html

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/on-ways-to-read-book.html