September Goals

Oh my goodness, it is already September. Here in the L.A. environs, it is hot and smoky, a most unpleasant end to summer. Remember this post? Well, this is where the big Acton fire is. Anyway, while we are in no danger of fire here, we are definitely feeling its affects with poor air quality. My cars are covered with soot and ash. Soccer practices are cancelled until further notice. Fire is a part of life here in SoCal and I've been through worse.

Anyway, no matter what the circumstances are that surround me, I can't use them as excuses not to get some priorities going. National Novel Writing Month is looming and I'd really like to participate. But I'm well into another WIP and I don't want to use it as my November project. So I need to get it done. I'm 20K+ on it with a projected word count of 85K. I have two months to get it done so I can focus on something else. Therefore I'm going to have to kick up my word production. My goal is...3K words a day. That's a a lot, that's more than my goals for NaNoWriMo. But I also know that is going to be tough. In fact, until next week, it is going to be real tough. But I'm hoping once my kids are back in school (let me pause for a moment and savor those words...) I can build up some steam and really go for it.

September really is my goal setting month for the year but I am a little too fractured mentally to focus on it. The giddiness of knowing next week at this time I will have my house back to myself has infected my focus.

So, any plans for NaNoWriMo? Have you thought about it?

Girl of 100 Lists

Christmas is over, the decorations have been stored away and my two month hiatus from real life has come to an end. As much as I enjoy the holiday season, I am not sorry to see it go. I don't understand how people can continue to leave decorations up after the new year, it seems so depressing. Ah well, my house is pretty much Christmas clear and my thoughts move on to the new year.

Usually this is a time to think of changes I want to make in my life. I ponder my existence and come up with a list of goals I desperately wish to achieve during the coming year. My resolutions run from the mundane to the extordinary. Most of them are pretty common. Very few of them are ever completed. They are lofty and lack any forethought on how I plan to accomplish them.

My problem is that my goals come from my heart and not my head. They are as substantial to me as unicorns and sparkly fairy dust. If I were ambitous, I would sit down and devise a strategy for each of my goals, map out a plan and follow it. Unfortunately, I'm not that ambitious.

I'm a list maker. I like lists. I have all sorts of lists on my computer. I like to be told what to do, even if I'm the order-giver. I can follow my own instructions as long as they are simple and written out. Eventually I internalize my list and it becomes a good habit. For example, I can't leave the house if my bed isn't made. Making my bed was on my to do list for so long, I finally just did it without thought.

So I only have one resolution this year. I'm going to make lists. Before I got to bed I'm going to make sure my lists are made out and in order. While its not a sure-fire way of accomplishing everything, it doesn't take much thought or heart to get something done.

Oh, and bonus points if you know where the title of this post came from.

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Setbacks

We've had a setback in the remodel and now I'm hoping the project is done by Thanksgiving. I'm bordering on a meltdown. I feel bad because there are people who have lost everything in the fires and there are homeless people out on the streets. I don't have it so bad when compared to others. However, I'm afraid I'm going to wallow in self-pity for the rest of the day. By tomorrow I'll be more upbeat and able to appreciate what I do have.

I have determined that this fiasco will not impact my committment to Nano this year. I've decided on something new, far lighter than what I had originally decided to work on. I'm looking forward to the intense distraction that Nano brings to me. November is always a difficult month with all of the family obligations I have. My brain seems to crave the escape of writing.

This Saturday is my chapter meeting and I volunteered to present (dummy me). I'm going to talk about goal-setting, something I'm incredibly week at. I'm hoping that I can gain something from all the prep work I've done. How good are you at setting goals and sticking to it? Not just for writing but for other things in life?

Changes

I'm a big believer in change as my oft changing blog skin can attest. Change is the mechanism we use to improve ourselves and our lives.

We had a big change around the ol' casa this weekend. My husband turned my daughter's room into...well, we aren't exactly sure. The one thing it isn't is a kid's room. He pulled out the carpet and put in laminate. He added crown molding at the ceiling. My youngest now sleeps upstairs. While I greet the change with relief and joy, the displaced child is not so happy. Moving upstairs means she is becoming a big girl and she isn't real keen on that. She's happy being the baby. But change is good and while she won't like it at the start, I'm guessing by the end of summer she will embrace it.

Changes run the gamut. Some are anticipated, others are not. Some changes make us decry our fate. I'm real good at that. But eventually we have to accept change and decide what we are going to do with it. We either sink or swim. Sometimes sinking doesn't sound like such a bad option. Swimming is tough and exhausting. But it gets us to the other side.

I tend to want make wide, sweeping changes. The changes I wish to make reflect goals which are, frankly, nigh impossible to accomplish. Or I tend to focus on the goal and not on the process it takes to accomplish it. I do it with everything from weight loss to housework and most definitely with writing.

This week I want to focus on my diet and fitness. My goal is to lose, well, a lot, but putting that plan in motion has always been a problem. My other goal is to be more focused. I'm easily distracted and thus I don't accomplish what I want to accomplish. Which leads to frustration. I've started writing lists again. I focus better if I see the words written down, imagine that.

Anyway, for this week, my focus is on what I'm eating and making exercise a priority. I'm hoping to make going to the gym second nature because I cannot lose weight unless I exercise. My goal is to make going to the gym something I do as a habit like drinking coffee. The more I go the more it becomes necessary.

Do you look for change or do you avoid it? What has been the biggest changes in your life recently both positive and negative? How are you dealing with them?

Don't You Love Mondays?

I do.

I can feel the pelting of rotten food on me now.

I've always liked Mondays, even when I was working. It is a mini New Year's for me, a fresh start, a new dawn to work on my goals. I also get to see my kids go off to school and my husband go off to work. I did some writing this weekend and it was frustrating. Ever trying writing with someone yelling at a football game? Or pausing the tivo and insisting you watch that play one more time?

Anyway, I feel a bit more clear headed on Mondays. I try to pick a goal or project to work on. This week is to stay on schedule. I'm pretty flighty. I flit about from one thing to another, rarely accomplishing all that I want. As much as I despise it, I pretty much need every hour of the day planned. Not a lot of fun, but then it seems to be the way I can get the most done. Makes me happier in the end.

How about you? Do you find Mondays an absolute drain or a new dawning? Do you do better with more structure in your life or are you natural organized?