I wrote yesterday that I hoped that today that I would be in the zone while working on the BLBP/PPL proposed partnership. I figured that with a good night’s sleep and approaching the matter fresh, that I would be able to do this. I figured wrong. This is what it means to be human.

I did not have a good night’s sleep. I woke up at 12:30 a.m. and started coughing. So as to not disturb Pete, I went downstairs and read for a while. This is my new bad habit. I read this most amazing book. It’s called Mobile Phenomena. It was compiled by Temporary Services. It has a photo of a vehicle filled with bicycles on the cover.

BLBP Barn Quilt for Outside the Building

Inside, there are dozens of photos of examples of mobile phenomena, book mobiles, coffee and beer carts, and shopping carts included. There are no animals included in this document; that is, no biblio burros or pack horses. The writing in the book is too diffuse for me – and the examples that are being used too broad in scope. However, this book did get the wheels turning, no pun intended. I envisioned the Bright Lights Book Project taking to the streets with shopping carts and other forms of non-conventional transportation.

I also realized that my tricycle bicycle idea was very worthy and that I should pull up my original proposal and send it elsewhere. Why not?

I returned to bed with all these ideas blasting around in my head. And I woke up feeling tired. But as planned, after breakfast, I resumed working on the proposal.

I didn’t get very far. The stumbling block was organizationally related. If it was up to me, I would have provided my audience with a letter, one that would take the form of a narrative. But this wasn’t up to me. It was up to Pete, who foresaw that this should be a one-page technical document.

I have learned in working with him that I have to choose my battles carefully. And we didn’t have the time to argue about how we’d present the material. I did see what the argument was but fell short in figuring out how to present the material. So, after pounding my head against the wall, I forwarded my paltry document to him and let him revise it. I did have suggestions to make about the content, but I kept them to myself. We’ll see, then, how this document is received.

I next resumed working on my article for the People’s Paper. It is a narrative about the Old Harbor School Library Revitalization program. And I immediately found myself back in the zone. I felt very assured and self-confident as I added and deleted details, and recreated the story.

So, I concluded that my being in the zone is to a large degree dependent upon my being able to construct a story. This was not something that I hadn’t previously considered.

And so now I am wondering if differing parts of the brain are used when writing technical documents and creative narratives.

Next: 335. 12/9//24: The Essayist Blows her Nose