Monday, June 22, 2009

And Now Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Program

I ran into a friend recently who said she'd been reading my blog and I thought "not very often"! I don't know why I haven't been writing consistently. My brother said something the other day when I was saying how I don't know how people have so much time to be on facebook about a blog being the same deal. I guess that would be true of blogs used for journalistic purposes, but mine is basically a creative outlet to post my diary on-line and it rarely gets two entries a week, let alone an hour!

But I do love to write and I am trying to dismiss that artists' theory that you wait for the feeling or muse or spirit or whatever to move you. I think good writers have a fair amount of discipline and I best get myself trained in some routine tactics that produce more print!

I'm on summer mode and the weather in Chicago is finally cooperating with the season, so I'm trying to settle into a new routine. But, alas, routine is not my strong point. To quote Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman" - "I'm more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kinda girl, moment-to-moment." That might work for a California call girl, but isn't doing much for this suburban mother and part-time employee!

I think I spent most of my life feeling pretty good about my ability to adapt, adjust, and bascially go with the flow. I forgot who it was who first said "Americans are good at war, because they're good at chaos and war is chaos." Chaos never used to phase me - it was the scheduled life that threw me for a loop. I would go around advertising my flexibility, "Call me Gumby!" But mostly it became an excuse for being unprepared or lukewarm about certain commitments. Don't get me wrong - I love flexible people and still try to be one. I'm just really learning to appreciate the value and benefits of a disciplined life.

People who are physically fit don't meander to the gym occasionally. Folks who plan ahead aren't at Walmart or Food-for-Less five times a week because the second they get home they see what else they were out of or started thinking about what to have for dinner around 5:30 pm. So I'm taking a stab at discipline during the least routine part of my year. Ask me how it's going once in awhile so I remember to write, will ya?

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