I’m doing too much. I know I’m doing too much because there are some things that don’t get done. One of them is writing for my blog. There have been far too many times over recent weeks when I haven’t managed to find time to write here. I’ve also not found time to do a piece to video for YouTube. I keep reminding myself my YouTube channel is not that important, it’s just something I like to do. I don’t know why I like to do pieces to camera, it just is.
Today I feel the need to write. I have been doing more research for my book. I was given access to some archives and found the missing Minutes. I don’t know why they call them Minutes, they’re taking me hours to read. I have to read, pick out the bits I need and then type those bits out, sometimes I’ll precis them, other times I’m typing out all words in the paragraph. I must admit to enjoying the typing part, I always have enjoyed typing. And sometimes it takes me a little while to understand what I’ve just read and realise just how momentous those few words are.
And I have some information I need to stop collating in my head and put fingers to keyboard in order to actually make words. With the information to hand I will easily make my manuscript to 42,000 words and that’s a number that makes my heart happy. But I figured it was more urgent to write for my blog tonight rather than for my book. I still have a couple more years of Minutes to read and absorb, but I’m getting antsy about this information in my brain.
One thing I’d like to say about this information is it’s about Dr. Hermann Schildberger. If you’re old enough you would have heard of a journalist called Michael Schildberger, this is his Dad. Hermann was born in Germany in 1899, the same year as my cousin was born in Australia. He was trained in the Lewandowsky tradition in music in the synagogue and sponsored to come out here in 1939 by Dr. Rabbi Herman Sanger who sent him a letter offering him a job at a relatively new synagogue in Melbourne. He then spent his time from 1939 until his sudden death in 1974 being the music person. He started just as the music person for Temple Beth Israel, when the synagogue started two branch synagogues he organised the music for them as well. The shock and grief I could feel emanating from the formal language of the Minutes is still fresh in my mind a week after reading them.
But the phrase ‘music person’ totally undercuts what he did, in a big way. He brought the music out, lead the music at Services, trained people and made certain everyone knew what was happening. And when our two branch congregations started he did the same for them. And all of this while he was starting other music organisations outside of the synagogues. What I don’t understand is why there’s no Wikipedia article about him.
And why the mention of my cousin is valid is because she was also into music. Linda Phillips was a composer, and also a music critic for one of the newspapers for at least 25 years. There was a concert to celebrate her 100th birthday only three years before she died. We sat next to George Dreyfus for this concert, a man I’ve met a number of times, but I bet he had no idea who I was.
Just to illustrate why I’m so busy. I’ve joined three writing groups and three book groups. Each of them is very different and fulfils a different need in me. The one that I’ve been in the longest has a very small time commitment. It’s only a few minutes a week. Every Sunday, when I remember, I post a question in the group and people answer it. I then pop back the next day and give them encouragement with their answers. The second one is a monthly commitment and involves me taking a piece I’m writing to a group that meets at the Wheelers’ Hill Library. We pass out copies of our writing, read them out and listen to everyone’s comments. It’s been going well so far, but I haven’t had time to put their comments into action. The third one is online. We meet weekly using Zoom and work on whatever piece of writing we choose. I’ve mostly been using that for my manuscript, some times I’d use it to do some emails and clear my mind. In editing this piece after dinner I realise I completely forgot to attend this last one tonight.
My three book groups also fulfil different needs. The one I organise through my synagogue has books supplied by my local council. We meet in person once a month and I don’t start reading the book until a few days before the meeting. It’s interesting reading books without knowing anything about them before I open the pages. The next is organised by the Victorian Discworld Klatch and we’re mostly focused on the books by Terry Pratchett. We meet online roughly once every two months. The third book group is more of a Buddy Readalong rather than a proper book group. We’ve read two books this year and I’m going to suggest a book for next year. We all work through Facebook and chat about the book using Facebook Messenger while we read.
I can tell the need to write is really strong in me tonight. I’ve been racing from one end of the house to the other, cooking dinner. I come back here to write a paragraph or two, then go back to the kitchen to add more water and stir dinner. Race back here again to add whatever is in my head then back to the kitchen I go. I’ve probably made half a dozen trips. This is the last. I’ll now go back, finish cooking and some time after dinner I’ll edit this and press the publish button.
The editing has happened and I’ve passed 1,000 words. Kudos to you if you made it all the way to the end. What are you working on at the moment?