The Honey-Do List

We had a parent conference a few weeks ago with Little Bit's teachers. The WGH made the comment that our daughter was "going to get in the box."

You know the whole box story, right? About how I'm so far out of the box that by the time I find it, the WGH has cleaned it? Well, our child has a few, shall we say, responsibility issues that she needs to work on. She's a smart kid - all my kids are smart, of course - but she lacks ... well, discipline.

This is genetic. I'll be the first to admit it - she gets it from me.

I'm an in-betweener. I'll do my chores, but I do them in between other things. I'll empty and reload the dishwasher while I'm watching the news or some other program on TV. Vacuum and take the trash out during commercials. I'll put in loads of laundry between cases while I'm working on the day job.

And when I'm writing? Huh. It's amazing I get anything done at all. Just let me finish this section and I'll put dinner on. Really.

With the new schedule comes a whole new perspective on getting things done. So I'm trying a new list. Work shift during the week is now 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (hint - don't call me during those times - especially at six in the morning when I'm really not coherent enough to remember my own name). When I finish the work shift, I check email and do the crossword puzzle. (Yeah, I like the crossword puzzle, so?) Next on the list is a quick visit to the Lunch Room - my endeavor to keep a regular schedule here, which most of the time and most fortunately puts me in the mood to write.

Then, I'll jump into the manuscript. I generally have at least 3-1/2 to 4 hours until I need to start thinking about dinner, which is about the time I used to finish up the work shift when I was working part-time. So it all balances out. Sort of. There's a little more play and wiggle room this time, because if dinner's not a major issue - which believe me, in this house, it's not - I don't really have to stop working on the book if I'm on a roll.

My self-imposed honey-do list today started with tackling squeaks. One of the pantry doors and one of the doors on the kitchen catch-all cabinet were squeaking to drive me crazy every time they were opened. Doesn't that make you nuts? You gotta love WD-40. We now have a squeak-free kitchen.

Of course, I did that between logging onto my email, downloading a new anti-spam filter and checking the regular mail.

I'm diving back into the manuscript now. Between chapters, I'm going to cook spaghetti.

Read a book. Which reminds me, I need to update the bookshelf over yonder. Check it out when you get the chance.

=) JB