THIRTY HOURS OF WORK IN A TWENTY-FOUR HOUR DAY
I have a tendency to spread myself a bit thin, to find ways to set up thirty hours of work for a twenty-four hour day. As a result, I often end the day a bit on the exhausted side, and then wake up tired.
Behind it all are two simple driving forces. One, there is an all consuming passion to write coupled with a desire to share the history of special places and the quest to be a writer when I grow up.
The second reason for the near constant push to write, to build and fix things, to craft things like photo exhibits is rather simplistic. I am striving to avoid celebrating my seventieth birthday as a greeter at Walmart.
As a result, I accepted a contract to produce a book profiling the evolution of Route 66 as seen through related promotional material within sixty days (done) at the same time that I was working on a Route 66 travel guide with a Jim Hinckley twist. The rough draft for the latter is complete (deadline March 1) and thanks to the promise of assistance from generous collectors Mike Ward, Joe Sonderman, and Steve Rider, and our adventures along Route 66, the photography is complete with the exception of the need for images from the Los Angeles area.
That leaves me with but two options. One, put out an appeal for images. Two, a weekend excursion to Los Angeles. The latter has the advantage of providing me with an updated feel for the road in that area and photographs for future projects including the forthcoming gallery in the Brunswick Hotel.
As I have a very active imagination, and friends who encourage me to pursue the various paths that it takes me on, the recent posting by Amazon.com in the United Kingdom listing my books with the notation that Jim Hinckley is Mr. Route 66 unleashed a flurry of ideas. While this line of thought was swirling through my mind another opportunity presented itself.
This time it was the request for the creation of a promo to test the potential viability of a video series entitled Jim Hinckley’s America, a sort of travel guide to Route 66 and the off the beaten path places that my dearest friend and I so enjoy. So, yesterday I set out with Norm Fisk, producer of the award winning DVD, Route 66 Arizona to set this ball to rolling.
As I am quite familiar with the segment of Route 66 between Kingman and Oatman this seemed a logical place to begin. After all, I grew up on this stretch of road and have traveled it for more than forty years and as a result wouldn’t have the additional pressure of having to focus on content.
Still, stiff is the only word I have for the efforts. Norm may disagree but in my opinion it is the best word to describe the initial work at Cool Springs, Oatman, and places in between. This is going to be a challenge but as it encapsulates many of my passions, including the sharing of special places and their history, I am quite sure that with Norm’s patient tutelage we will get over this hump.
Meanwhile, the Ultimate Route 66 Contest (see tab at the top of the page) seems to have really piqued some interest. I have had a wide array of answers submitted as comments but will refrain from posting these until the end of the first five week series. Suffice to say, several folks have the first two correct.
I really enjoy crafting these contests. From the response garnered it would seem readers of the blog and fans of the double six enjoy it as well.
Well, it is time to get myself up and going. There is a great deal to do today and not enough time to get it done. But, whats new about that?