Friday, January 15, 2010

Stephen Leacock Said it Best

I'm feeling decidedly Lord Ronaldish this week. Who the heck is that? He's this fictional guy:
"Lord Ronald said nothing; he flung himself from the room, flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions."  (Stephen Leacock, Gertrude the Governess: or, Simple Seventeen)
I'm now a couple weeks into the new year and I'm between work-for-hire writing projects. I should be ecstatic! I should be gleefully ticking things off my colossal to-do list. But instead I'm feeling some sort of confusion at all the seemingly endless possibilities. I feel like I could go riding madly off in a whole bunch of directions, and I don't know which damned direction would be best.

As I was sitting here, trying to figure out what to do next, a vague recollection of that Stephen Leacock quote popped into my head. Wanting to be sure I got it right, I Googled the approximate phrase and Mr Leackock's name, and presto! There was the citation I needed. I found my copy of the book Laugh with Leacock and there it was.

Hmmm, all that was decidedly NOT on my to-do list.

I think after living 2009 under the pressure of almost constant deadlines, this little breather is freaking me out. So where should I start? It's just a little breather, really. It will be coming to an end shortly--

Excuse me while I go fling myself onto my horse and, well, you already know the rest now, don't you?

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