Setting Goals, Knocking them Down
I'm thinking of it like bowling. I keep setting them up, life keeps rolling in and knocking them down again. But I think I'm to the point where the ball has stopped ricocheting (heh - pinball, or bowling? You decide!) enough for me to set up a few things I'd like to do again.
So the new job schedule is nice, but a huge shift for me. I'm working four ten-hour shifts, Weds-Sat, starting at 2 pm and working until 12:30 am (half hour unpaid lunch in there. No other breaks, which will be pertinent in a minute). This means I am commuting off- peak traffic, gives me mornings to conduct necessary business, and most important, three day weekends. The commute is not a big consideration at this point, the apartment we are renting is three miles from my work. When and if we buy, that commute will grow to something like 45 minutes in order to get us out of the Metromess, so the traffic becomes a pain point again. I don't have to think about that for a year, though.
So not having a commute means I'm not doing dictation while driving. Yay, and boo. Means I have to carve out writing time at home, with all the attendant distractions. Right now, with the Little Man working four days a week, my writing time looks like when he's left, before I leave for the day. Now, to work up the discipline to actually do this, and not run errands or something. Or make art. My daily art at lunchtime is not an option any longer. My last job, I was able to fold together my 30 min lunch with two 15 min breaks and have an hour to eat and create. Thirty minutes is not enough time to eat and make something meaningful, I've learned over the last three weeks. Lunches are also the only time I have data at work, and often the only time of the day I can speak with my First Reader due to schedule conflicts. Well, art needs to happen otherwhen. Still figuring that part out.
Unpacking a box or two a day was the initial plan. The Little Man wants to take a day off, and make it all happen at once. Meh. Part of the problem is that there is simply too much stuff for this small a space. I'm overwhelmed. It's going to take time and mental energy to figure out what needs to go where, what we can dispose of, and what organization gadgets I need to invest in for making life easier. Still, unpacking a box a day seems like a good goal.
Blogging/non-fiction/reading... I'm going to try and keep up with blogging three days a week, plus the Mad Genius Club post on Saturdays (which must be written ahead, as that's a work night and ideally I'm asleep when it's published). Right now I'll shoot for MWF here on my personal blog. Reading, yes, I have to schedule reading time. If not, it gets shunted down the list until it's lurking in the weeds of 'go get a haircut' (last happened August 2019) or 'clean out the car' or possibly even 'paint toenails ' which for the record I have never done voluntarily. I'd like to read more. I'd also like to publish book reviews here on the blog, although likely not what you're thinking of: I'm reading very little fiction these days. Oh, yes, I do have a couple of non-fiction publishing projects I'm working on. And an anthology I'll be taking stories for, here in a few months.
It's a lot. There's more, too, which isn't relevant here, and some of that is very time-sensitive. So if, for a time, the blog is rambling and too intimate, I don't apologize. It is how it is, and this may be the only way to get me back to some good habits. And with that, the timer has dinged, and summons me to a short break, drink water, move on to the next task.
Onward!