It was 50 years ago today … a treatise on time
By Roberta Rosenberg on Jan 23, 2008 in Occasional Rantings
Add 3 more and do the math. Today Rutger Hauer, Princess Caroline of Monaco and I are having a birthday! (He’s older than me. I’m a tad older than the Princess.)
I’m more firmly ensconced in middle-age than ever since today I celebrate my 53rd solar year. One thing birthdays make you aware of is the passing of time, especially how quickly it seems to zip along the older you get.
I find myself more impatient about wasting time. I think of it as my “precious life force.”
Two hours wasted on one more tired retread of “The Eyes of Laura Mars?”
No, I don’t think so.
A 20 minute wait to get into a merely so-so faux French bistro to eat so-so food with a “Hi, Guys!” chirpy server?
Nah.
Clients who don’t, won’t or refuse to “get it?”
I say: ————————————-
I may be a year older, but hey, I ain’t no fool! :=)
Speaking of time … I have to admire my blog compatriots and their ample and abundant posting outputs. With so much on my corporate plate lately – not to mention the wife/mother/family thing – it’s hard enough trying to find 5 minutes to condition my hair let alone blog. Carving out 30 minutes or so a week for blogging seems an elusive goal that all-too-easily slip slides away on a daily basis.
Tom Chandler of Copywriter Underground and I were discussing the very same thing yesterday. Both of us have a file full of posting ideas, interesting links to share and other ephemera. But who has time when clients and kids are banging down my door – “You in there, Mommy?” “Roberta, you have 30 minutes to kick around a few ideas? … Roberta, you in there?”
Am I too busy working harder and every other marketing blogger is working smarter?
Tell me, please, how you manage to post wonderfully witty and thought-provoking posts daily or even 2-3 per week while I, when piled high with projects, can barely eke out a birthday post.
Tell me and I’ll post a summary … whenever I can get around to it. With a little luck and enough comments, I promise sooner than later! 
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[tags] birthdays, middle-age, blogging time, january 23 [/tags]
Lorraine Thompson | Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
Hi Roberta:
Thanks for taking time to post on your special day. Hope you’re having a great birthday.
I’ve been reading and loving The Copywriting Maven for months—but this is my first comment.
The coincidence of our sharing a birthday today and your extremely relevant post gave me the kick in the pants I needed to write.
As a fulltime freelance copywriter and mother of three, I, too, am flabbergasted at the output of some copywriter/bloggers.
I frankly don’t know how the Maven manages to turn in great copy under deadline-driven duress, take care of children, run a house—and blog. I applaud—and am jealous of—your ability to keep yet another plate in the air.
I can’t imagine how other copywriter/bloggers post prolifically. Do they really, you know, write copy? For clients? On deadlines?
Maybe they don’t have children? Or they have spouses who manage 100% of the domestic responsibilities?
Or are they just amazingly disciplined, focused and fast?
Let me just go hang myself.
Jeanne Dininni | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
Happy birthday, Roberta–and many more!
I have to admit that I often blog when I really should be working on other writing projects, which means I have to make up for it later–often by staying up very late to complete projects by deadline.
One thing’s for certain: blogging can be very time-consuming! So, don’t feel at all guilty if other more important things–like family and work–prevent you from posting as often as you’d like. If you don’t have time to blog, you must be getting lots of writing assignments, which is a GOOD thing!
Take care!
Jeanne
Roberta Rosenberg | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
Lorraine/Jeanne – thanks so much for the birthday wishes. You both made me feel better about not posting as much as I would like.
I’m still thinking about a reply to a certain White Paper blogger who wrote about how having a new baby in the house made him a productive writer. My first thought when I read that? He HAD to be the dad because mom, as the most-likely primary care giver, wouldn’t have had the time or energy to even post!
Jeanne Dininni | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
Roberta,
I tend to agree with you that Dad usually has it a bit easier than Mom when there’s a new baby in the house!
Where blogging–or life in general–is concerned, I say this: Here’s to accepting what’s happened today with the knowledge that we always have the opportunity to make things better tomorrow! That’s the promise implicit in each sunrise!
Cheers!
Jeanne
Aurelius Tjin | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
This is obviously one great post. The information are very insightful and helpful. Thanks for sharing all of these.
Graham Strong | Jan 26, 2008 | Reply
I’ve toyed with the idea of starting a blog, but what stops me everytime is the idea of having to commit to the time to do it. Not that I’m afraid of commitment (anymore…) but I know that with everything else going on in my life, crafting a carefully-worded blog post would get backburnered awfully quickly.
So for now I’ll content myself with blog commenting — you can do that anytime you want, you don’t have to scratch your brain for topics, and certainly nobody out there is demanding I churn out more comments!
BTW, hope you had a great birthday!
~Graham
Roberta Rosenberg | Jan 26, 2008 | Reply
Graham, I hear you and I toyed with becoming a professional “blog commenter” for many of the reasons you stated. But ultimately I took the plunge. So what if my kids eat “breakfast for dinner” a few nights a week, right
Thanks for the birthday wishes AND the comment!