RAMBLEON

Why would I want to take on another task?

I’m asking myself. I’ve already got a job-list as long as both my arms, and a few of my legs, and there’s no doubt that some of the jobs will, eventually, have to be ‘struck-off’ without ever having been started.

So why more? I’ll answer, if only to, sort of, put a lot of thoughts into one basket – to mix a metaphor – or create a new one. How is a new metaphor created by-the-way? I would have put that in brackets but I’ve decided to stop using brackets unless absolutely necessary, because they are so often a means of making a description or instruction clearer, when what was being written should have been written so that it was clear, without further explanation, in the first place.

‘Huh!’ I can hear myself thinking, ‘easier said than done. Probably’.

Answer. To the question ‘why more?’ That could have been in brackets for better effect, couldn’t it? I think a lot when I wake up and I often thrust those thoughts aside by getting up and getting on with something useful like one of the jobs on the jobs list, a good antidote against thinking about all the things I could or should or ought to have done. Or, much worse,

So, what’s high on the thoughts list? Three things stand out at the moment:

      Get John back into circulation again.

      Get Cracklin’ Rosie sailing.

      Finish my novel.

All three enjoyable and do-able, they just keep getting interrupted with things that have to be done NOW. Like designing, drawing and printing our Christmas cards – and then having to write on them as well! This year I drafted the idea quite quickly. Getting it drawn required serious concentration, but it was enjoyable work. Two-and-a-half days fairly solid at the desk, seeing in my mind’s eye the finished product and having to draw and, more time-consuming, shape it up for printing. It is always frustrating when reducing things to fit a given size that the drawn shapes shrink so smoothly but the text font size has to be adjusted, so that when I think I’ve got the drawing right, the text either won’t fit or it’s too small for easy reading – and what’s the point of posting text if no-one can read it without adjusting their picture?

Well, I finished it just before writing this. I printed three copies and am now awaiting my editor’s approval. Leisure-time.