Saturday, June 2, 2012

So Much


The hood release cable on my '86 S-10 broke this morning, so I hooked a piece of stiff wire from a fly swatter handle behind the spring release, then routed it through the channel where the cable runs, and out in front of the grill. It's rigid enough to act as a handle; it works slick. I have a friend that laughs when I do stuff like this. His insistence that everything has to operate exactly the way it was designed irritates me. I could take this quick-fix for my hood-latch a step further (I probably will), drill some holes and with minimal time and effort make a hood release lever much like those on the vehicles I grew up with. There is nothing wrong with having to get out of your vehicle to open your hood; we did it for years.

The cable had broken when I was preparing to check the oil, in a parking lot near a local park along the shore, where I like to meditate and just enjoy the view, take in nature. Entering the park immediately following my repair-job, I was struck with the thought of how it parallelled my trying to break into the literary world. Everyone is blogging, so I must blog, eveyone is on Facebook so I must do Facebook, then Twitter, then, LinkedIn, then I have to link them all together, I have to stay connected with this person and that person, get these newsletters and study them and this, this, and this, etc.....Oh yeah, why am I doing all this? So I can be a successful writer. Really? And just where am I with that very minimal committment to write 1000 words a day on that new project? PING! I think I just heard my "have to do" cable snap.

I appreciate the suggestions and sharing that takes place in all these media resources, and am grateful they are there. One of  the best comments I've heard lately came from Barbara Ward, on LinkedIn, in which she stated, "I thnk you have to do what you feel works best for you." I certainly know that I can't tell what works best for me until I try, but for now, it's obvious to me, I can't continue trying to do all of what so many others are saying I "have to do," while experiencing limitations that happen to be unique to me.

I intend to continue posting with a bit more regularity, but I can only do what I can do.