Roll out the barrel

I've been busy. The new schedule is working out very well and I'm getting a lot accomplished. I'm even typing more reports than before and my paycheck is about to get a boost right into the next tax bracket. Just as an example, I finished three stories for Chicken Soup this afternoon after typing as many reports in four hours as it used to take me seven hours to do. And that includes editing and proofreading the stories. I have to thank Marcia Golub's advice on scheduling and Elizabeth Lyon for inspiration. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Elizabeth Lyon has agreed to collaborate on a book with me, but that's another story for another time.

The only sour note in this ode to joy is my printer. The plastic innards that feed paper through it have decided to quit feeding. The copy function works, and so does the fax and scanner, but without paper, they won't do me much good. I actually had to hand print labels for the monthly ham club newsletter and my fingers still feel cramped. I don't write much by longhand since I got the laptop, which just celebrated its first year with me.

I probably should change the title of this post to roll out the printer, but it doesn't go well with barrel, especially since the ink is holding out. Too bad the printer won't allow any paper through its plastic teeth so I'd need to roll out the ink barrel, but into every life a little rain . . . et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

I do know some things for certain: schedules make a difference, working until you drop is not necessarily productive (or lucrative) and when you leave some room for the spark of creativity to strike you're sure to burn brightly and often. A fire cannot burn in a vacuum and creativity cannot function with tired and depleted synapses incapable of generating a spark.

That is all. Disperse.