Thursday, February 18, 2016
My Winning Speeches, books, ribbons, stories, photos: Why I keep records.
In previous years I have lost track of the number of ribbons I won and at which clubs. Why does it matter?
1 Counting Books You've Read and Reviewed
I counted the number of books I read in a year at Grammar School when one of the English teachers gave us a pocket sized notebook and asked us to write a review of a book we wrote on each page. I set myself the task of filling the notebook, reading a book every week, and reading more books in year two than in year one.
If I still kept this notebook system and re-read it at odd moments, as entertainment when waiting at bus stops, train stations and airports, I would be in a better position to answer the (on the) table topic for (impromptu) speeches at meetings.
2 Recording Titles and Authors
When I first did table topics I could never answer the question: What is your favourite book and why? I had too many books. Now the answer is simple. My favourite fiction book is Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, because it has a twist ending in each of the chapters.
2 Counting And Recording Photos
I used to wonder why composers gave their orchestral pieces numbers as well as names. Beethoven's Fifth, and so on. Then I met the head of a photographic society in New Zealand who had a basement room with stack os photos. He said he numbered all photos in date order by year. He kept indexes by country and subject, using the photo number to find the photo. So the first photo he took in the year 1950 would be number one. He would have a list of photos taken in New Zealand, starting with that number one photo. Another list of photos of skiing might also begin with that number one photo.
3 Counting and Recording Short Stories
When I started writing short stories I started by storing them alphabetically. But I kept changing the titles. It then became easier to store them in date order. This week's and last week's stories were easy to find.
4 Duplicate Filing
When I worked in the British Council we kept everything duplicate filed. One copy of every letter went into a subject file. The second copy was in a day file. If you did not know where the letter was filed, or it was missing, or misfiled, you could check the date file.
5 Counting and Recording Speeches
Counting and recording speeches is handy. One speaker I met at a hotel seemed very well organised. He gave a speech at a nearby restaurant table at Christmas). He told me he gave many speeches to clubs, often two a year. he had a card index on which he wrote the title of the speech he gave, the date, and the stories and jokes he told. When invited to give a second speech in one year, he took a second card and gave a speech of a different subject with different stories. However, a year later he felt he could repeat the first speech. Some of the audience would be different and most people would have forgotten.
6 Statistics Of Articles Written
I never bothered with statistics to tell others. I did count the number of travel article I wrote in a year. I managed an average of only about 8-16 a year. I wanted to reach one a week. the maximum number of times I resumed the same story was four times. I usually spent one week on admin, researching a trip or press trip, then one week away. One week on filing, writing, sending off the finished article and photos, making revisions on request. One week post-writing on thank yous, filing, and so on.
Then I went to a lecture on travel writing given by another writer. She proudly claimed, "I have written over 100 travel articles."
I thought, "I must have done more than that. I've written about ten articles a year for more than ten years. She had made herself sound an expert, very important, not just by the quality of the places her work had appeared, but simply on numbers.
I then realised that I could boost my own ego in slack periods, as well as giving myself a more impressive CV and introduction when speaking.
Count statistics. Have you won three prizes for speaking? I have more than 50 ribbons for best speaker or best impromptu speaker or best evaluator, in the UK. Another ten or so in Singapore.
Look for statistics in every business or hobby. When you start a business or talk about your hobby. How many wine bottles do you have? How many stamps have you collected? How many books have you read or written. How many houses have you sold? How many flats have you rented? How many countries have you visited? How many mountains have you climbed? How many cars have you owned, bought, sold? How many trees are in your garden?
When you fill out a questionnaire you are asked about your lifestyle. How many times a week, month or year do you eat out at restaurants? How many mobile phones have you owned? How many times have you made a home cooked Christmas pudding? Only once - never again? Or for fifty years?
How many husbands and wives or girlfriends have you had? How many times have you proposed marriage and been turned down. You can make a positive out of a negative. Cosmo Landesman was billed in the Sunday Times as having proposed marriage five times and been turned down and still looking.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speech writer and performer, researcher and author.
1 Counting Books You've Read and Reviewed
I counted the number of books I read in a year at Grammar School when one of the English teachers gave us a pocket sized notebook and asked us to write a review of a book we wrote on each page. I set myself the task of filling the notebook, reading a book every week, and reading more books in year two than in year one.
If I still kept this notebook system and re-read it at odd moments, as entertainment when waiting at bus stops, train stations and airports, I would be in a better position to answer the (on the) table topic for (impromptu) speeches at meetings.
2 Recording Titles and Authors
When I first did table topics I could never answer the question: What is your favourite book and why? I had too many books. Now the answer is simple. My favourite fiction book is Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, because it has a twist ending in each of the chapters.
2 Counting And Recording Photos
I used to wonder why composers gave their orchestral pieces numbers as well as names. Beethoven's Fifth, and so on. Then I met the head of a photographic society in New Zealand who had a basement room with stack os photos. He said he numbered all photos in date order by year. He kept indexes by country and subject, using the photo number to find the photo. So the first photo he took in the year 1950 would be number one. He would have a list of photos taken in New Zealand, starting with that number one photo. Another list of photos of skiing might also begin with that number one photo.
3 Counting and Recording Short Stories
When I started writing short stories I started by storing them alphabetically. But I kept changing the titles. It then became easier to store them in date order. This week's and last week's stories were easy to find.
4 Duplicate Filing
When I worked in the British Council we kept everything duplicate filed. One copy of every letter went into a subject file. The second copy was in a day file. If you did not know where the letter was filed, or it was missing, or misfiled, you could check the date file.
5 Counting and Recording Speeches
Counting and recording speeches is handy. One speaker I met at a hotel seemed very well organised. He gave a speech at a nearby restaurant table at Christmas). He told me he gave many speeches to clubs, often two a year. he had a card index on which he wrote the title of the speech he gave, the date, and the stories and jokes he told. When invited to give a second speech in one year, he took a second card and gave a speech of a different subject with different stories. However, a year later he felt he could repeat the first speech. Some of the audience would be different and most people would have forgotten.
6 Statistics Of Articles Written
I never bothered with statistics to tell others. I did count the number of travel article I wrote in a year. I managed an average of only about 8-16 a year. I wanted to reach one a week. the maximum number of times I resumed the same story was four times. I usually spent one week on admin, researching a trip or press trip, then one week away. One week on filing, writing, sending off the finished article and photos, making revisions on request. One week post-writing on thank yous, filing, and so on.
Then I went to a lecture on travel writing given by another writer. She proudly claimed, "I have written over 100 travel articles."
I thought, "I must have done more than that. I've written about ten articles a year for more than ten years. She had made herself sound an expert, very important, not just by the quality of the places her work had appeared, but simply on numbers.
I then realised that I could boost my own ego in slack periods, as well as giving myself a more impressive CV and introduction when speaking.
Count statistics. Have you won three prizes for speaking? I have more than 50 ribbons for best speaker or best impromptu speaker or best evaluator, in the UK. Another ten or so in Singapore.
Look for statistics in every business or hobby. When you start a business or talk about your hobby. How many wine bottles do you have? How many stamps have you collected? How many books have you read or written. How many houses have you sold? How many flats have you rented? How many countries have you visited? How many mountains have you climbed? How many cars have you owned, bought, sold? How many trees are in your garden?
When you fill out a questionnaire you are asked about your lifestyle. How many times a week, month or year do you eat out at restaurants? How many mobile phones have you owned? How many times have you made a home cooked Christmas pudding? Only once - never again? Or for fifty years?
How many husbands and wives or girlfriends have you had? How many times have you proposed marriage and been turned down. You can make a positive out of a negative. Cosmo Landesman was billed in the Sunday Times as having proposed marriage five times and been turned down and still looking.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speech writer and performer, researcher and author.
Labels: authors, Bukit Panjang, Counting books, Harrovians, photos, recording titles, RSPB, short stories, speeches
