Gosh. Wouldn’t it be great if I could say I’d sat on a beach in the sun, reading and relaxing with a refreshing beverage in my hand? Sadly, that is not my life. What would my life be without hectic schedules and stress?
Okay, so the summer is more than half over. And all I’ve really written about thus far was all of our house drama. And honestly, not much is going on with ME, but my kids have been super busy, which sort of translates to me being busy. Squirrel has continued rehearsals for Rumplestilskin, Monkey has been working to get ready for the charity stream their helping to host, and both will premiere on Thursday. I’ll be driving Squirrel to rehearsal every day next week for tech and dress rehearsals.
Last week the two of them were at camp, which I thought was going to mean lots of time for me to get writing done, but it didn’t happen. While they were there for five days, two of those days were taken up by me driving them to/from camp, one day was saved for work, one day I had an appointment and invited my friend’s oldest son to have lunch with me (the friend that passed away in January), and then there was July 4th and I spent the day with my husband because he was off from work. I did manage to read a book, but that’s about it.
Starting July 15th every weekday will be completely filled, day and evening. Squirrel starts Guard Camp, which is 8-5. Monkey will be volunteering with VBS at church 9-12. And they both start driver’s ed online in the evenings 6-8. At first I thought I was going to be able to have the time to myself, but I caved and volunteered to help at VBS too. So there went that. The following week they will both have Guard/Band Camp, but I ended up volunteering to read to kids for Project Transformation with my church, so there went those days too. I always ask myself how things get so busy, but I know the answer. It’s because of me. It’s my fault 100%. It’s not like these things I’m signing up for are things I don’t want to do.
I guess I just have too many things I want to do and not enough time to do them. And my writing always seems to take a back seat. Probably because I don’t have a deadline and feel like I can always get to it “later.” I have a friend that puts deadlines on herself to get her writing done. She books an editor for a particular date so that she has to get the writing done by then. She says that the deadline is the only thing that keeps her accountable and getting the writing done. She has self published a novel and two novellas in the last year. Meanwhile, I haven’t finished even one story, except the short story competition pieces. Which shows that a deadline might be helpful for me. But the idea of booking an editor sounds way too scary and just telling myself I have to have something finished doesn’t feel like it would hold me to it quite enough. Perhaps I need to announce something that I can post to my author blog? Maybe it can be a “subscriber only” perk? Hmmm… This has got me thinking. Perhaps I’m on to something. I’m going to have to mull this over a bit more.
I signed up for a 5 day virtual workshop called Idea to Outline that starts on the 15th. It’s being taught by Sage Adderly, who hosted a 5 day Quest to Self with several other creative folk. I have not yet watched all of the presenters, partially because they require having art tools on hand to actively create while watching. I can’t exactly do that in the library and I have too much anxiety to do it at home when others are around. My desk is a mess, so there isn’t space where I can close the door. I really need to fix that. Maybe if my desk was cleared off I would feel compelled to use it? I don’t really like where the desk is situated at the moment, but maybe moving it to face a window could help (and be motivation for cleaning it off).
Okay, so what is on my agenda for the coming week?
1. Clean off/move desk.
2. Watch Quest to Self videos.
3. Brainstorm/plan writing timeline and set a deadline.
That’s probably enough for now. I don’t want to get overly ambitious. I’d just disappoint myself. Now that I’ve written it down, hopefully I’ll follow through. I will update next Saturday. There. I have a deadline. I should probably create a writing calendar where I can see the deadlines. I’m going to do that now. I’ve got another hour and a half before Squirrel is out of rehearsal, so I have plenty of time to get started on #3 on the list.
**Edited to add:**
I’ve updated my writing blog with a request for feedback. Check it out, comment, and maybe even subscribe if you’re interested in helping me out! Making a Plan
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