13-June-99 Marlborough Sunday

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The second day of the Marlborough stamp convention was much quieter than the first. There was a line of people waiting to get in when we got there at 9 to set up, but nowhere as long a line as there had been at 8 on Saturday. Several shoppers said they had skipped the first day because last year it was so crowded that they couldn't see anything.

The most interesting thing of the day happened late in the afternoon when I was teaching a workshop on making miniature books with a simple stab bookbinding technique (here's my web page with instructions). One of the participants said that she had always had a fear of bookbinding. I recommended that she go home and try what we had done in the workshop a few times, because what did she have to lost -- a sheet of cover stock and three or four sheets of typing paper. I said that I could sympathize, though, because whenever I write a new program I hesitate for a while before trying it out. Eventually I say to myself, “What do you have to lose? Either it will work, or, more likely, it won't work, and then you'll fix it.” Another participant had a more insightful explanation, though. He said that whenever he comes up with an idea he thinks is good he hesitates to try it right away. He will talk it over with family or friends and get their approval, but even so, won't do it for a couple of days. He says that he thinks it's less fear of failure and more that he wants to enjoy a couple of days of the fantasy that it will be wonderful before trying it and coming to terms with any real problems or deficiencies that it has.