"When it comes to challenges, you have a choice. You can be part of the problem or part of the solution. Being part of the problem means repeating excuses over and over and not doing anything about it. Being part of the solution, on the other hand, means searching for answers and taking action."
I initially copied the post to share with a family member struggling with a big challenge right now. This morning, however, it really hit home on the writing front as I re-read it.
It always goes back to time management for me and the ever necessary balance of writing, work and family obligations. Surprisingly, I started the year doing well on my goal of one new rough draft a month and not skipping critique submission dates; however, as the weather has improved, I have found my creative self and mind going in several directions. My challenge right now is to bring focus to the tasks at hand to complete them in an orderly manner rather than the haphazard way I've been doing as of late. Chaos in my writing environment seems to bring chaos to my mind. I need organization to function well, and I am far from organized right now between webinars I am midway through watching, two WIPs I am trying to edit and another begging to be roughed out--all good things, mind you; I just need to accept the challenge to bring order to the chaos and find my solution rather than aggravating the problem by adding to the chaos to make the whole more overwhelming, especially as my work year winds down and kids are about to be home for the summer.
I just purchased a large daily agenda pad that looks like a long legal pad to keep myself on track daily and weekly throughout the summer. I will list the most important items to complete per day to keep myself on track and accountable. We shall see how it goes, but I am hopeful!
Do you work on multiple projects or one thing at a time? If you are interested and willing to share, I'd love to hear your best and most successful organizational tools.
Good for you, Karin. You can do it. Yes, I work on multiple projects. I've tried staying with one thing, but when a voice is talking to me I must start on that story too. I planned a new chapter today, but all of these "brilliant" ideas, ha ha, kept saying I needed to change this and that so I did. And you know what. That chapter now makes better sense. I use a legal pad to write down what I plan to do each day. I also have a bad habit of jotting down ideas on any old piece of paper around. Not good, so my plan for this afternoon is to put all of those ideas on my pad and have them in one place. I think that will make it easier to work on my major story. Would like to visit with another one with a new idea for it. Now if I can only find the tablet to write on. :) Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your thoughtful response, Beverly. I agree it is easier to have everything noted in one place. I tend to have notes on a lot of scraps of paper as well...sometimes I need sticky notes to find my notes:) I'm glad you had success with your new chapter.
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