Getting the Writerly World in Order

This week I have rebooted my goals for the year and prioritized them. I've also figured out the obstacles. Most of them are centered around the household duties and errands I have to perform. I can't do this alone. The Physicist offered to hire a housekeeper, but that's money taken out of the writer pile and we should get this done together. As a team. We'll revisit that one after I get a contract and we see how much the college fees amount to for the Teen.

And speaking of the Teen, she got quite a wake up call after she was Miss Independence Day about her life and me trying to control her. Man, did she pick the wrong day to play the "It's My Life" card. Cause I want a life as well. And you know what, she's right. She should understand the cost of being Independent. She's going to college in August. She needs to learn how to manage things for herself. Therefore, she is officially in charge of her stuff and I will only clean it for a fee. And that's an automatic fee clean. Cause I can't stand smelly clothes and a smelly teen wing with lord knows what kind of crud growing under her bed.

She tried to get things back to the "way they were" but I held my ground. I had my own little Independence Day. I am officially liberated from being the Evil Harping Nag Queen. Why? Cause her fee goes to me and I am motivated to see her not perform so I get $$$ for the RWA National Conference in Anaheim.

I should have thought of this MONTHS AGO.

Any rate, the Physicist is already helpful and he pays the bills with the money he earns so I can't complain about his efforts. I do want a little more help with laundry, but that'll come as I have decided to start laundry when they come home. That way they will at least have to fold and put away for me.

I also realized I have to back down on some of my social media stuff. But that's been in the works for a while. I control the media, it doesn't control me. Amazing what a little time with a James Scott Bell book can do to get my priorities straight. I am stoked about the freedom I've gained by realizing what a drain the household is on me.

So celebrate with me!! I'm have a Writing Revolution! What do you need to let go of in order to liberate your writing time?

Climbing Mountains

Well I have a song on the radio that pretty much says it all. Not sure about the title, and definitely not sure about the singer as it is Mylie Cyrus and she's not the best singer in the fruit bowl, but I am sure about the lyrics. It's a great song given to a mediocre singer and it encompasses all I think about when it comes to writing:

There is always another mountain to climb...

No matter where we are in our careers or on this journey, we will always have mountains standing in our way. We will always have boulders in our path blocking our passage, and we will always have rivers to navigate to get to the other side. The trick is--doing it. Doing it in spite of the worry, the fear, the doubts, the concerns, the possibility of failing. The trick is to do it. To believe that the mountain can be climbed, the boulder can be moved out of the way, and the river can be navigated safely.

The courage to face the fear and do it anyway is not in all of us. But it is in some of us. And even that courage doesn't mean success. Not outwardly. But it does mean success within. The knowledge of one's fortitude is success. How many times did Rocky get hit? How many times did we fight any enemy nation and think we'd lose? But we did it anyway. We performed.

The trick is to keep working and performing despite the obstacles in our way. And the trick is to keep working and performing even when no one comes to watch the show.

And that is the hardest lesson to learn. When we have only an audience of one, we still have to perform.