My February Goal

If you have been reading here lately, you've noticed that I've picked up and put down several writing projects. You may think I have a billion pieces lying around just waiting for my attention but you would be wrong. I do have a few, that's true, but I have a problem that has nothing to do with which one to work on, nope, that isn't it. My problem is focus and by extension priorities.

When I first started back to school, I had to take a course about going back to school especially since there is the online element to some of the classes. They talked a great deal about focus, stress, priorities, and communicating all of these issues with everyone around me that might have a right to my time. In my school work, these items have never been an issue. If anyone in my house sees me at my computer, they leave me alone. I'm working and I'm not to be bothered.

So where is the issue, you ask. The issue lies in the fact that even when my homework is finished and I have free time, even when I've spent time with my family and feel free to pursue my own pursuits, I cannot focus on my own writing. I sit down with a great idea and before I know it I've completely wandered, mentally, into a different story or possibility of a different story or this story told from a different point of view or, well, the list goes on. None of these mental wanderings are necessarily bad but they are counter productive. If I can't get one good thought down, I have nothing to work with, no story to grow.

What have I been doing with my time then, you ask. I've been reading. I've read more books in the last few months than I have for several years. I love to read but I don't have a lot of time to do so. I bought a nook recently and that has given me the ability to carry my books with me easily and read while I'm waiting anywhere. It's great. I love it. However, I'm not writing.

With that in mind, I'm trying to think of ways to make myself write. I'd like to write a little everyday. I don't. By the time I remember to do it, I'm tired, my head hurts from all the computer work I do, or there are a million other excuses. I'd like to write ten pages every week not necessarily a bit every day but a total of ten no matter how often I write. Not happening. Can't seem to get that far. So, it's time to get tough with myself and focus. February is almost here and I've decided to set a goal that by the end of February I'll have written fifty pages. That really isn't such a huge goal, after all, I did write 50000 words in November. I'm tired of wanting to write and not being able to write. So, I'm going to write. I have decided. Yep, we'll see how far that gets me.

In other news, T is starting to require the car more and more. I'm all right with that. He is old enough to come and go mostly as he pleases but it puts a cramp in my style since I don't have the money to help him get his own car. Em is Em, not much else to say. Mom is finally starting to look and sound better. She caught the flu on top of the bronchitis but is actually up and moving around with purpose today. As for me, well, I'm still whining about my writing. What more is there to say?