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Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Winding Down


I had my first pre-Christmas meltdown this morning. I’m sure there will be more to come. It seems no matter how hard I try to organize and plan – and re-organize and re-plan, it always comes down to this. As my children move the Star of Bethlehem on the Advent calendar to yet another pocket and joyfully announce how many days left until Christmas—I feel it. That squeeze of panic in my chest, and then I can’t get my breath. How many days? How many? And then I start mentally recalculating the list of “things that have to be done”(the baking, the shopping, the wrapping) then the list of “things that need to be done” (the cards, the visit to Santa, taking a cookie tray to the senior center where my dad goes) right on down the list of “things I really wanted to find time to do.”

Writing, of course, is on the last list. Right up there with crawl into a corner and cry and pull my hair out. None of which I ever seem to get time to do.

As the year winds down, I find myself reflecting on the things I didn’t accomplish rather than the things I did. I suppose that’s normal. Twice I’ve pushed back the release date for The Model Man – for no reason other than I am too busy to do what it takes to finalize it and get it off to final production. (I have a very understanding editor. Maybe too understanding!)

This was one year where work really came first, and while I’m not much for New Year’s resolutions, it’s my goal for the coming year to put writing ahead of work. I’ve been working on little ways to get my kids more organized, get the household more organized, get the work situation more organized--now hopefully, I can get the writing more organized.

Since I doubt I’ll get time for another December blog, I’ll ask now. What accomplishments did you see in 2007? What do you hope to achieve in 2008?

PS: in case you missed it, I blogged yesterday with my friends The Scandalous Victorians. Stop by and check it out!

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