New Leaves

You've probably figured out by now that I spend pretty much most of my life outside the box. Waaaay outside the box. I'm free-spirited. I ... dare I say it? ... lack structure. No, JB, really? You?

Sadly, it's true. I live in the abstract. I go about things in a rather haphazard fashion, concentrating on whatever captures my attention at the time. This is why I have trouble sticking to a routine, trouble finishing what I start. I jump from project to project, idea to idea, with no clear goal in sight. Oh, I might have great plans for one thing or another, but am I good about carrying those plans through to the end? No. No, I am not.

I decided when the alarm went off this morning (or maybe it really was before I went to bed last night) that I was going to try to establish a new routine for myself. I did a really good job of starting on it this morning, too, so at least for the time being, there is hope.

Every day, first thing when I get up and the kids are busying themselves about the house getting ready for school, I am going to read. For an hour. Then, I am going to walk. I haven't been doing a lot lately toward the ol' health goals. (The WGH and I tried a 7-day diet recently. We made it four days before we said "this ain't cuttin' it" and gave it up.) After a 30-minute walk, I shower, and by 9:00 a.m. I will be in my chair, in the study, computer on and ready to work.

This is, after all, a business. I write. This is what I do, ostensibly for a living. As such, as with all jobs, there are certain things that are expected of me. And so shall I get myself into the mindset of "working" every day. Mondays will now be my "business" days, when I do the things that are part of my writing life but not actually part of the manuscript I'm working on. Book reviews. Articles. Interviews. Query letters! Other business things, like for our Sisters in Crime chapter. Tuesday through Saturday will be devoted to actually writing. My goal is 1,000 to 2,000 words each day, minimum. This past Saturday I actually had most of the day to myself, and I managed to add 2,157 words to the manuscript. Woo-hoo!

Now, of course, all this "getting down to business" stuff comes with a caveat or two. There is a certain amount of freedom involved when you're your own boss. Which I am, all day every day (save for that 2:00-6:00 p.m. window when I am a part-time employee of a medical document services company). But the beauty of my plan is that establishing this routine for myself is not doing something entirely new. It's just restructuring things a bit. Of course, we all know how I am about structure - this is where the caveats enter the picture. I'm not turning over a new leaf, just flipping the old ones over to their greener sides.

So, will it work? Maybe. There's hope, at least as evidenced by what I've accomplished already this morning. The reading. The walk. The shower. So far, so good. And I'm only 20 minutes behind schedule.

Speaking of new leaves, it's starting to feel more and more like spring around here these days. The Bradford pears in our front yard are already budding - I think as soon as the groundhog saw his shadow they all got together and decided it was safe to come out. It's amazing how a half hour in the fresh, crisp air and sunshine (no clouds whatsoever) can get your brain working in ways you never dreamed of.

I'll keep you posted on how this "new routine" is working for me. I imagine - because I know me so well - in a few months there'll be something new to capture my interest, but let's hope it fits into the grand scheme of things and doesn't throw me off kilter too much. Truthfully, when I look at the bigger picture, all these plans are well and good, but there's Someone Else who is in control of my life besides me. I'm just trying to follow the Boss's instructions. And this morning He said, "Get your stuff together!"

Read a book. It's good for you. And get out today and enjoy the sunshine.

=) JB