Juggling

For someone who is a total klutz when it comes to anything requiring manual dexterity, I find myself constantly juggling more and things in the course of a day, and finding that with the addition of each new ball or bowling pin, I have to juggle faster in order to keep them from all falling on me and breaking every bone in my body.

And now, in light of my friend Norm's recent death and everything that must be done in the settling of his affairs, I don't even look up, but just keep going through catch-and-toss motions as fast as I possibly can and hoping that things will work out.

Here…I’ll point out a few of the balls (well, I’ll nod toward them since I can’t take the time to point) as they pass by. You'll notice several of them are pretty lightweight, but some of them have the heft of bowling balls.

The bowling balls are my books-waiting-to-be-published. Caesar's Fall, scheduled to have been released last month still doesn't have the cover artwork finished. My navy letters memoir, A World Ago, has been in publisher's Limbo for two years now ("We'll try for June." "Maybe October." "First of the year, for sure." Two of the books from my Dick Hardesty series, The Bar Watcher and The Paper Mirror, are awaiting re-issue. "Awaiting" being the always operative word.

My long-suffering friend and webmaster Gary is just finishing up the video trailer for Caesar's Fall but can't do anything with it until we have a cover to include in it.

And now, at my publisher's insistence, I have just added special "pages" to Facebook to keep readers and prospective readers of both the Dick Hardesty and Elliott Smith series posted and to encourage some sort of interaction with them (answer questions, comment on suggestions, respond to comments and observations, etc.--all things I love to do, but find frustrating in light of there only being 24 hours in a day).

Never a dull moment.

And then there are the "blog balls"...this three-times-a-week one, and the every Monday AuthorsDen.com blog. And then there's updating my website, and trying to keep up with daily Twitter and Facebook and five or six Ning sites, and daily emails, and....

All the above are largely Dorien's responsibility though, being non-corporeal, it's up to Roger to actually do the typing, sending, etc.

At the same time, Roger is juggling another set of balls, primarily involving all the details of being executor of a dead friend's estate including the sale of his condo, etc.

Not to mention my plans for a trip to New York in October, and a hoped-for return to Europe next year after a 55 year absence.

Oh, yes, and did I mention I have to try, somewhere, to find time to work on a new book?

Well, on thinking it all over, I guess I would rather deal with all this than sit on a park bench all day feeding the pigeons.

New entries are posted by 10 a.m. Central time every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Please come back...and bring a friend. Your comments are always welcome. And you're invited to stop by my website at http://www.doriengrey.com, or drop me a note at doriengrey@att.net.