Elizabeth Wilder's Blog

***Just Shaking My Head***

We do not have billboards along the highway in the state of Maine.  Powers that be felt the countryside didn't need any visual clutter.  The beauty of the state should be the view - I agree.  Therefore my brain gets a bit scattered (more than usual) with all the information shouting out to me in colors and messages along the roads here in our adopted state of PA.  Some of the artwork is amazing - some of the messages clever. Some do become just  visual pollution. Coming home one evening, I spotted one that really made me shake my head.  Truthfully, I don't remember the product - just the bold print along the bottom edge - HURRY - THIS AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY.  Why would some company go to trouble to put up a billboard for a short term offer?  That's a LizLogic mystery.  Just doesn't make sense. I've been thinking a lot about marketing lately and that is a way I would not go to get the most bang for my buck for a short term offer.  But it must have made sense to someone - perhaps the sign painter.  I'd say the most successful marketing was by the billboard company.

It is still raining here -been wondering if we should be getting ready to build an ark.  At least it is not snow.  We have been told that we are going to have lovely weather this weekend.  Going to hold the weathermen to that - we deserve it.

Things are getting exciting with my novel "The Spruce Gum Box".  I recently saw the first proofs of chapter one and how the design is going to look for the chapter heads.  First time I could see on paper what had been only visible to my minds' eye for so many years.  Found my first note about the seed of an idea on the book and could not believe my eyes that it was in 2001.  Sure took time to sprout.  Started the research four years ago and spent the last year writing.  Still a lot to do BUT SUCH FUN!  Wish I had been a bit younger when I finally believed I could do it.  There's a lesson to be learned there. 

The entertainer Danny Kaye once said, "LIFE IS A GREAT BIG CANVAS; THROW ALL THE PAINT ON IT YOU CAN."

       

~~~~ Putting off the Have to for the Want to ~~~~

Per Webster - Procrastinate vb:  to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done.

Well, I have not lost any of my procrastination skills.  Over the past many months of writing, I was spending most of my time doing something I wanted to do.  Now that the manuscript is done, there are a lot of things that I have to do (including many that didn't get done while my focus was on the book).  I had a feeling that once the fun stuff was done, the real work would begin.

I guess procrastination is one of those skills that never really leaves, especially if you are a life long gold medal procrastinator like me.

SO - I made up my mind I would tackle two "have to" projects today and guess what I ended up doing.  Ready for this?  I sent out my very first "Tweet".  Yep - am now a bone fide user of Twitter.  That will take up a lot of procrastinator time - have to learn how to use the darn thing.

So - if any of you are so inclined - you can follow me on Twitter @eewilder .

NOW - I have to concentrate on at least one of the important "have to's".  Wish me luck.

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Now to answer my own question from my last BLOG about a spruce gum box.  A neighbor looked at me with a "say what" expression when I told her the name of my novel was The Spruce Gum Box.  "Why in the world would you name it that?"  Well, it pops up throughout the story. In the 1800's, men who worked in the logging camps during the snowbound winter harvests in the northeast, would work on carving spruce gum boxes (or books) to fill their time on Sundays.  They would take a solid piece of spruce wood, hollow it - leaving the top to be closed by a sliding piece of wood and then carve patterns on the outside.  Some were simple with dates and names but many were wonderful pieces of folk art.  They would collect spruce gum (resin from the spruce tree that flowed from a nick in the tree).  These globules were chewed and were a treat for many.  The lumbermen would save the pieces of gum in the boxes and take them home in the spring as a gift for their sweethearts.

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Post Script -Looks like writing in your BLOG is also a great way to procrastinate ;-) 

 

 

 

>>>>> Ready For Take Off <<<<<

  I remember watching movies where the pilot and co-pilot would go over a check off for systems before take off.  Sort of like "gadget one"- check,  "gi-get 12" - check - "watcha-ma-call-it 220" - check, etc.  Well, I think my household of two is in need of such a list.  Something we need to check off before going out the door.  "grocery list" - check, "library books"  - check, "shopping bags" - check,  "coupons" - check, etc.  How I hate to carry a couple bags of groceries into the kitchen only to see on the list that was left on the table that I forgot the one thing I was shopping for.  A check off might give us a better chance to have my husband remember his reading glasses when we go to church.  Then he won't have to sing new lyrics to the old favorites while trying to make out the words.  A check off might get the granola bars to my daughter's home.  You know - the ones I made just an hour ago and remembered half way over in the car to her place.  Yes indeed, we need a check-off list as soon as I remember to make one.

On the bright side - this morning our lawn looked like a living ocean of robin red-breasts.  In the field, Canadian geese were on take off for their summer nesting grounds (wonder if they use a check off list). I could see baby shoots of green breaking through the soil of my little flower garden.  What a difference a day makes.  Now if the random piles of snow (now dirty - not pretty) would melt away - I would let myself believe that Spring is on the way.

A SHOUT OUT  - To my grandson Alex who has been accepted to Drexel University in Philadelphia.  His senior year is fast coming to a close.  How can that possibly be?  I'm very happy for him and most proud.

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Book News!  The final proof has started.  The design of cover and pages has started.  The Spruce Gum Box is closer to becoming a  reality.  NOW- do any of you know what a spruce gum box is?  Would love to hear from you at sprucegumbox@gmail.com.  Hint - Part of my book is set in a logging camp in the northeast in the 1800's.

Remember to click on the March Archive to see this blog if you go directly to the LizLogic site.  Right now the site is being shared by http://www.TheSpruceGumBox.com .      

!!!!!!!! CHUNKS OF AMNESIA !!!!!!!

Recently my daughter "tweeted" about a time management technique where you block daily activities into chunks rather than multi-tasking.  http://bit.ly/8ZoVRu  Focusing on one task at a time does allow for better concentration where my usual attempt at multi-tasking does strain whatever I have left of functioning brain cells.  I have found that chunking has helped with my writing but it should be done with horse blinders so you can't see the pile of dirty dishes or unwashed clothes.  And no matter how well the chunk of time is planned, a bit of short term amnesia can get in the way.  (I think that sounds so much better than constantly admitting to senior moments.)

For example.  During a chunk of e-mailing this morning, I sent off a message with an important attachment - without attaching it.  Guess that is why I send a lot of "PS" notes.

These bits of amnesia are usually short (not sweet) but sometimes turn into a string of bits where I remember just long enough to forget again.  Since my cataract surgery, I wear sunglasses whenever outside as I find my sight more sensitive to sunlight or in the case lately - bright snow.  After failed attempts of remembering to take them with me from the kitchen table, I kept them on the bookcase near the door but stll walked out without them.  Now I carry them in my pocketbook with another pair in the car.  That works most of the time, unless I just go out for a walk. 

As for lapses in the house, I just go with the flow of staring at everything in the laundry room and then just turn around knowing that I will think of whatever I want when I get back in the kitchen.  The trick is to head back to the laundry room fast enough to not have enough time for the amnesia to set in again.  I think of it this way - I get a lot of needed exercise.

Perhaps this crazy weather doesn't help.  It seems to be effecting the plants.  My poor Christmas cactus seems to have forgotten that it blossomed at Halloween and is blossoming again.

Looks like my blogging chunk of time is about up.  Next chunk is blinder free so some of the misc. activities get their share of multi-tasking.  It's hard to give up old habits.

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Book update - My novel, The Spruce Gum Box, is winding its way from one stage to another.  It is in edit and I'm getting excited about meeting with a designer sometime this month.  We will be discussing ideas for the book cover.  We will be adding blurbs about the book at http://SpruceGumBox.com as we go along.  it shares space with my blog site right now while the SGB site is being built.