I find that when the poem is simply not working - uneditable- I start over - I read the parts I like a few times and start writing it afresh. If I'm lucky, a completely different poem will emerge! :)
You have quite a system there. I sit for days with an empty head, no ideas, nothing to jot down, preoccupied with work and just trying to get through the day. Occasionally at work I scribble on a Post-It and stuff it in my pocket if a line runs through my mind. Sometimes it’s the title that arrives first. No system at all. Empty head today.
Not yet, although maybe able to do certain things. Helpful for reporting, I’ve heard. We’ve had computer aided detection in mammography for years, but I still don’t think it’s very good. I use it but always after I’ve made my observations. I think I’ll outlast AI. I hope my daughter can, too.
Carole, I wonder how your life will change upon retirement? I did very little writing until 2022 when I began working 4-5 hour days, mostly mornings. I would come home, eat lunch, take a nap and feel bright eyed and bushy tailed for the afternoon and that is when I started the writing. By mid 2023 I had fully retired (except for the occasional interesting job) and I began writing in earnest. Started Substack in April of 2023 with 414 posts since then, with maybe 5% prose in there. Thanks for reading.
That would do it. For me, it’s an endless worklist, difficult but unnecessary studies and computer programs that make less and less sense. Everything takes me twice as long to complete now than it used to.
I guess I’ll sort it out at some point. Learning new software in the last couple weeks has been a real challenge, and so far, I haven’t appreciated any benefits. It’s so much more difficult to get work done. The straws are piling up!
Carole, that is such a great thought, “the straws are piling up”. As a carpenter it first began with not liking being on steep pitch roofs or spending all day doing base trim on your knees or mixing 80 pound bags of concrete…
I get that. I wonder how much I would miss working. Maybe not as much as others think. I’m shirking a lot of stuff around home that deserves more attention. Writing might go better, possibly.
I am certain I would have had real problems if I stopped working abruptly. It was first the 6 hour days and then I stopped working Mondays. I got a little more sleep, was able to focus longer on writing and actually, realistically consider writing a book of poetry. Just finished book #3 and in the middle of collaborating with an illustrator on my children’s book, “No More Naps!”
I feel like I’m getting closer to retirement every day, although I still feel somewhat useful—maybe just used, however, at this point. It’s hard to abandon something that’s been your profession for nearly 50 years. I started very young. There are still good days, just not as many. I wonder if it might just addle my brain with other useless things retired. Only way to find out is to do it, I guess!
I was concerned to dial down carpentry which I began in college in 1979. Luckily, the demand on my body really become evident after 60 and I first began backing down my hours per week then, in 2019, to 30 hours a week.
I distinctly remember becoming very restless after 3 weeks of any kind of vacation and usually after two weeks.
I find that when the poem is simply not working - uneditable- I start over - I read the parts I like a few times and start writing it afresh. If I'm lucky, a completely different poem will emerge! :)
I like that approach, maybe some small part of the one that didn’t work finds a new home.
You have quite a system there. I sit for days with an empty head, no ideas, nothing to jot down, preoccupied with work and just trying to get through the day. Occasionally at work I scribble on a Post-It and stuff it in my pocket if a line runs through my mind. Sometimes it’s the title that arrives first. No system at all. Empty head today.
I have heard that AI will be able to read radiology data pretty well and images.
Not yet, although maybe able to do certain things. Helpful for reporting, I’ve heard. We’ve had computer aided detection in mammography for years, but I still don’t think it’s very good. I use it but always after I’ve made my observations. I think I’ll outlast AI. I hope my daughter can, too.
Carole, I wonder how your life will change upon retirement? I did very little writing until 2022 when I began working 4-5 hour days, mostly mornings. I would come home, eat lunch, take a nap and feel bright eyed and bushy tailed for the afternoon and that is when I started the writing. By mid 2023 I had fully retired (except for the occasional interesting job) and I began writing in earnest. Started Substack in April of 2023 with 414 posts since then, with maybe 5% prose in there. Thanks for reading.
That would do it. For me, it’s an endless worklist, difficult but unnecessary studies and computer programs that make less and less sense. Everything takes me twice as long to complete now than it used to.
I guess I’ll sort it out at some point. Learning new software in the last couple weeks has been a real challenge, and so far, I haven’t appreciated any benefits. It’s so much more difficult to get work done. The straws are piling up!
Carole, that is such a great thought, “the straws are piling up”. As a carpenter it first began with not liking being on steep pitch roofs or spending all day doing base trim on your knees or mixing 80 pound bags of concrete…
I get that. I wonder how much I would miss working. Maybe not as much as others think. I’m shirking a lot of stuff around home that deserves more attention. Writing might go better, possibly.
I am certain I would have had real problems if I stopped working abruptly. It was first the 6 hour days and then I stopped working Mondays. I got a little more sleep, was able to focus longer on writing and actually, realistically consider writing a book of poetry. Just finished book #3 and in the middle of collaborating with an illustrator on my children’s book, “No More Naps!”
I feel like I’m getting closer to retirement every day, although I still feel somewhat useful—maybe just used, however, at this point. It’s hard to abandon something that’s been your profession for nearly 50 years. I started very young. There are still good days, just not as many. I wonder if it might just addle my brain with other useless things retired. Only way to find out is to do it, I guess!
I was concerned to dial down carpentry which I began in college in 1979. Luckily, the demand on my body really become evident after 60 and I first began backing down my hours per week then, in 2019, to 30 hours a week.
I distinctly remember becoming very restless after 3 weeks of any kind of vacation and usually after two weeks.