Morning Work

This morning was desk work. It's time to pay bills and catch up on a few things.

First on the list after bills was to finish up the postcard mailing for summer reading program promotion to West Virginia libraries. I'm behind the ball this year--usually I mail these in late February/early March. Where did this month go?? Oh, that's right, taxes. Paperwork is my Achilles heel, probably because it requires me to stay seated in one place for long periods of time, something I dislike very much. My last job at the library was one of those administrative, mostly computer and paperwork kinds of jobs so it's no wonder I was so miserable. Now that I'm retired, I swear I have to force myself into the chair to do this kind of work. Now writing is different, I suppose because it taps into a different part of the brain, the creative side, whereas numbers and data entry use something else.

I hand-write the address on the postcards, all 200 or so of them. I have labels created but there is something satisfying to me about writing out the addresses, and besides, who doesn't like getting a hand-addressed note or card? Some marketing companies recognize this as they use print fonts on bulk mail envelopes to make them look handwritten.

So I can mark one more thing off of my to-do list. In a week or so I'll make a few follow-up calls which can be effective in booking more work. But at least this step is done, and I can move my mind to the more immediate project coming up this weekend: leading my workshop on finding, researching and telling ghost stories. And following that is a program on ballads and presentations for an annual edible cake contest and a Road Scholar program. It's spring and storytelling work is picking up.

I enjoy my slower winters; it gives me time to work on things at home (like my kitchen!) and gather myself for the coming year. Soon I will be on the road again traveling to who-knows-where to tell stories, see intriguing places, talk to interesting people and post lots of photos and stories about it all.

Such a life! I highly recommend it.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.