Monday, April 12, 2010

Murphy's Bill

       Murphy's Bill has been my lodestone for at least a week now.

       Many of you probably know the axiomatic "Anything that can go wrong will" as Murphy's Law.

       As far as I'm concerned, however, and based on the way things are going, the Murphyism has not yet achieved codified statutory status and may never.  If you think about it, failure to ever achieve actual legality is much more in keeping with the true spirit of Murphydom, anyway.
      [I'm not exactly of the Schoolhouse Rock generation but SR's iconic "I'm Just a Bill" is such a classic of our time that I had more than a passing familiarity with how a bill becomes a law, even before the health care reform saga that consumed political pundits and commentators (if not the general public) for the better part of last year and a chunk of this one.  That, combined with the current political climate and the intrinsic "anythingthatcangowrongness" of Murphy, convinces me it will never be presented for the president's signature.]

      But (say it with me), I digress.

      Woke up bright, shiny and early (for me) this morning to accomplish things. Plot and story things. Writing things.  After a weekend brainstorming session with two of my CPs, I was brimming and bristling with ideas.


     But no. It was not to be. Here  it is after 1 p.m. and all I've accomplished thus far is to scatter a few instances of the word "trust" into the first two pages of my WIP as if they were croutons.


     In my defense, I have been a little bogged with other matters. Probably a little overbogged, actually. Some of you know this already, based on the number of annoying e-mails you have been receiving from me since, oh, at least Thursday.

    But when someone e-mailed me to find out if I was okay since I  hadn't been around to her blog in a few days, I figured I should at least make a small pit stop here.   
      
    This driveby is not anything Murphy, because to tell the truth, I forgot what I wanted to say about that. And some of what I did remember I decided to self-edit.

    So I give you all this instead:     The Procrastinator's Creed

    And my personal favorite, Number 10: "I shall always begin, start, initiate, take the first step, and/or write the first word, when I get around to it."

3 comments:

Gina Rosavin said...

I'm sort of partial to this one: I shall never forget that the probability of a miracle, though infinitesimally small, is not exactly zero.

I've been gobsmacked several times over the couple years with situations that call for a miracle and right up to the bitter end, keep hoping it will come through. Hasn't yet, but that "not exactly zero" part calls to me.

And it would be good for me to remember it, since I'm having one of "those" days again. I did find the BS session invigorating and motivating, and I did have some success today, but the energy is fading.

And I love Schoolhouse Rock, I remember its first run! Show it to my kids on the internet ocassionally, they have half-interest in it.

Kat Attalla said...

Well, I wish I would get by butt in gear. I swore to myself I was going to finsih my revisions for Carina before I go back to the hospital. Sunday, I found that my house really needed cleaning. Not sure why. It's not as if I was having company but I cleaned. Today, opened up the computer and before I could start working, I realized I needed to go to the bank... and then Lowes... and then the mall because it was on the way. By the time I got back, I needed to cook dinner. And now, of course, it is Monday and no one stand between me and HOUSE. Maybe tomorrow.

Wendy S Marcus said...

Ok, so yes, it was my e-mail that prompted this post. And I'd like to point out that a lot of what you've been busy with is writing related...working on administrative tasks for HVRWA and helping your fellow writers by networking and brainstorming. So you are being productive, and I for one appreciate your efforts. Now tomorrow let's see if you can change those croutons into a three foot hero. No twitter. No e-mail. No blogging. Just spend time on yourself...writing. You deserve it!

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