I'm a compulsive list maker as anyone who reads this blog knows. Part of it is, I suppose, an obsessive compulsive disorder, though if something works, is it a disorder? I want to see how things fit together and make them fit, if I can.
With so many interests (storytelling, writing, traveling, camping, music, family, politics,cooking, and Gary), the only way I can fit the continuing jigsaw puzzle together is through lists.
The ending of one year and the beginning of another is the time I get everything in sync.
I started this morning with an updated five year plan. It is not exactly the five year plan the Soviet communists proposed from WWII through much of the rest of the 20th Century. Gary often points out that the Soviet five year plans didn't work but I wonder about that. Certainly some parts must have been productive. I don't expect everything in mine to work out but enough does to make it worth doing.
This is where I want to be by 2018:
....Fifteen more books written. Since I managed four this year, I think three a year for five years is close to realistic.
... Trips to Hawaii and three other states, finishing out my travels to all 50 states.
... Trips to Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Costa Rico, Kenya and South Africa.
... Learning something news is always important. I plan on taking Spanish and poetry classes.
... Moving from Seymour to Ashland and starting a new life there.
... Finishing my imaginary walk around the world. Surely 4,000 miles in five years is possible. I am currently approaching Paris
And those are my broad plans. The next thing is to cut them down to workable chunks.
I made out a list of 2014 goals.
Five books. I will finish Going Down From Gairloch. It is almost done with the exception of two or three troublesome chapters. I will re-edit my mystery and write a sequel during NaNoWriMo in November. Wade, Betty and I continue our daily short stories at Black Coffee Fiction.
http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com It is still popular, as a matter of fact today we received our 20,000th "hit". We expect to have our third collection in print by October. Wade and I now have enough stories for a separate collection of Christmas stories. Finally, I want to finish a rough draft of my non-fiction book Jake Dog and the Four Cats.
But that is still too big a chunk, so I now break 2014 into months.
My January 2014 goals are to re-do the Glen Valley mystery e-book, correcting some errors and to work on two of the four remaining Gairloch chapters. I must also write two short stories. I will also set up some venues for the summer reading program. That is plenty because in January I may be serving on a jury. Gary and I also must spend a week in Illinois working on the farm house.
Finally, there are daily goals. Each morning I have a list of things to do. Some will be easy, like making out a grocery list, and some more difficult like writing out this post. Tomorrow are more end of the year tasks: finishing the 2014 scrapbook, clearing off the bulletin board, setting up a tax file, working out the 2014 budgets (both mine and Gary's), emptying filing cabinets of excess paper, organizing the top of my desk, making a pot of split pea soup, and putting out the garbage.
Good thing the days are getting longer. It is now 79 days to the spring equinox.
With so many interests (storytelling, writing, traveling, camping, music, family, politics,cooking, and Gary), the only way I can fit the continuing jigsaw puzzle together is through lists.
The ending of one year and the beginning of another is the time I get everything in sync.
I started this morning with an updated five year plan. It is not exactly the five year plan the Soviet communists proposed from WWII through much of the rest of the 20th Century. Gary often points out that the Soviet five year plans didn't work but I wonder about that. Certainly some parts must have been productive. I don't expect everything in mine to work out but enough does to make it worth doing.
This is where I want to be by 2018:
....Fifteen more books written. Since I managed four this year, I think three a year for five years is close to realistic.
... Trips to Hawaii and three other states, finishing out my travels to all 50 states.
... Trips to Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Costa Rico, Kenya and South Africa.
... Learning something news is always important. I plan on taking Spanish and poetry classes.
... Moving from Seymour to Ashland and starting a new life there.
... Finishing my imaginary walk around the world. Surely 4,000 miles in five years is possible. I am currently approaching Paris
And those are my broad plans. The next thing is to cut them down to workable chunks.
I made out a list of 2014 goals.
Five books. I will finish Going Down From Gairloch. It is almost done with the exception of two or three troublesome chapters. I will re-edit my mystery and write a sequel during NaNoWriMo in November. Wade, Betty and I continue our daily short stories at Black Coffee Fiction.
http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com It is still popular, as a matter of fact today we received our 20,000th "hit". We expect to have our third collection in print by October. Wade and I now have enough stories for a separate collection of Christmas stories. Finally, I want to finish a rough draft of my non-fiction book Jake Dog and the Four Cats.
But that is still too big a chunk, so I now break 2014 into months.
My January 2014 goals are to re-do the Glen Valley mystery e-book, correcting some errors and to work on two of the four remaining Gairloch chapters. I must also write two short stories. I will also set up some venues for the summer reading program. That is plenty because in January I may be serving on a jury. Gary and I also must spend a week in Illinois working on the farm house.
Finally, there are daily goals. Each morning I have a list of things to do. Some will be easy, like making out a grocery list, and some more difficult like writing out this post. Tomorrow are more end of the year tasks: finishing the 2014 scrapbook, clearing off the bulletin board, setting up a tax file, working out the 2014 budgets (both mine and Gary's), emptying filing cabinets of excess paper, organizing the top of my desk, making a pot of split pea soup, and putting out the garbage.
Good thing the days are getting longer. It is now 79 days to the spring equinox.
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