I think we’ve all got these laying around, stuff we’d really like to do ‘when we have the time.’ And of course, it’s not that we don’t really have the time – we could use the time we spend watching TV or playing videogames or reading blogs to do them – but my theory is we like the idea of the end result and are bored by the idea of the middle part, the actual doing…
And then it got me thinking about projects, and how a project once meant a DIY effort of some kind or other… Those with skill, patience and finesse would end up with something professional, and those that didn’t – well, who hasn’t tucked a disastrous hand-made gift in the back of a shelf somewhere, only to come across it a few years down the road…
But now projects have gone corporate… they will never be the same…
Titirangi Storyteller 
I loved that chair, and I would be truly impressed if you told me that you know how to do caning.
I don’t even want to think about the projects that I have piled up for later . . .
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Hah! That I do not know how to do… These are someone else’s projects. Me, I’ve got several websites waiting to be built. A couple of design projects. Getting my lighting set up in my office/studio (just got new gear that’s just sitting there…) Matting projects, photo-bookmaking projects, e-book publishing projects… tippy tip of the iceberg there… and here I am just cruising along… until I have time…
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E-book making projects? Tell me more. Your stuff? Your thoughts on this (seriously).
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I am looking into publishing a couple of things on Smashwords. One is a book of short stories my husband wrote, the second a collection of ‘light stories’ I am working on with a shaman friend, and tossing around the idea of publishing my first two novels that way… All time intensive, labours of love and joy, with little prospect of serious financial return.
I see them as personally satisfying and a way of sharing with whomever is interested – and sidestepping the whole print publishing industry, which is inevitably shrinking – and moving further and further away from non-mainstream, mid-list writers (those who will never sell millions, but have a steady readership).
And of course my personal expectations and ‘life’ needs have shifted – I no longer seek huge fame and huger fortune… so the ebook seems right for me…
Once I find the time to get to them…
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Life is soooo interesting. How do we cram it all in??
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I don’t know… but we do… I can never understand when people tell me they are bored… Well, sometimes I do understand – back when I was still in corporate I would sometimes fall asleep during meetings, especially if they were someone essentially reading a powerpoint presentation to us in a darkened room… and of course it would have been rude of me to read a book, or draw, or play with my camera…
But I figure I’ve got enough projects on my to-do list to get me through to 2112…
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Hear, Hear ! bored by the middle bit is absolutely spot on in my case !
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I’ve got so many boring middle bits, I’ve kinda lost track. Although there is one middle bit I just wish would go away – but the middle bit of all that diet and exercise required to accomplish that is definitely wayyy toooo booorrring…
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