I’ve been writing this daily blog for ten years and the subjects have varied widely but always with the intent of discovering something new about how to improve the human condition. My writing skills have improved a little but are a long way from good, even from good enough.
I must try to clarify my writing and that requires studying what I should have learned in high school, but didn’t. Last evening I purchased a book at Dudley’s, here in Bend, named Rules for Writers by Diana Hacker and on simply reading a few pages discovered that I need help. But I’m already buried in books such as Trivium and Quadrivium I desperately need to read if I am going to become a competent human being.
But all of that learning must be in the background to what needs to be completed now. What current accomplishment requires is execution and executing with excellence. Fortunately, the snow is deep enough that I can’t get on with my other major project, that of making my house as fireproof as possible. There was an amazing amount of flammable stuff on my property, like Ponderosa trees, that I have removed down to the ground level. I’m not paranoid! My neighborhood looks like Paradise, California, before the fire totally destroyed it. Our city is now undergoing a major drought and this coming 4th of July will have pyromaniacs wandering the city with rockets and Roman candles. That’s the tradition here … to watch the professional fireworks from the top of Pilot Butte and then watch the butte catch fire even though there are fire trucks already in position at the top. Crazy!
My task presently is to execute my projects with excellence and to be prepared for the inevitable city-wide fire.