Reset and Realign

When I come back from a conference where I’ve spent close to 16 hours for multiple days in a row working, socializing, thinking, etc, I crash.  Hard.  I spent the first couple of days this week unpacking both my suitcase and my mind, and fighting the urge (sometimes unsuccessfully) to pass out on my couch in the lull of the afternoon.  It’s not just because I’m introverted by nature and that level of socializing exhausts me, though that is a large factor.  Actually, that part has become easier as my peer critique group is there and knowing my people are there makes that part of the experience MUCH easier.  No, the part that really and truly does me in is the thinking and the writing, where parts of myself and my story wind up coming out on the paper that I didn’t expect. 

I took the time this week to reset my goal/deadline tracking tools.  I set up a calendar in my google calendar to track writing/business/blog deadlines, but I wasn’t utilizing it.  I have recurring deadlines in the family calendar, which is more effective because then my husband sees it and it makes it easier for us to coordinate who is going where and responsible for what depending on the night.  Separating it out added a layer of difficulty that just didn’t need to be there.  I’m keeping all recurring and important deadlines in the family calendar and then I keep to-do lists in my planner.  I create to-do lists based on the week and then on the days where I find I have a few hours for work, I’ll make a to-do list for that time as well.  It’s helped me get a lot of work done and keeps me from social media surfing.  I ordered a new Erin Condren LifePlanner for my birthday and asked my family for a new journal for Mother’s Day since the one I was currently in was full.  I asked for the Leuchtturm Hardcover Medium A5 Ruled Notebook [Navy] journal.  I had a dot grid version first, but I love having a lined journal best.  I love both of these products because the paper quality is incredible and they’re durable- they stand up to being thrown around my car and transferred in and out of different bags. If you’re interested in trying the Erin Condren products out, I have a referral code available.

In these next couples of weeks, I’ll be critiquing my peer critique partner’s manuscript and then I’m going to finalize my writing goals for 2019-2020.  I run my writing goals year from June of one year to May of the other.  I have a solid idea of what I want to accomplish next year, and when I want those things to happen.  Some of my goals are easy to place in the calendar (NaNoWriMo always happens in November) and those goals dictate when other work needs to happen to make sure I’m prepared to get them done.  Once I’ve got those in, it will be a matter of placing my other goals around it depending on time.

How are you doing working toward your goals?  What are some of your favorite office products/tools that you rely on to keep track of things?  Do you have a favorite pen, journal, planner, etc?

Happy Writing!

(Actually, Happy you’re-almost-halfway-through-May-and-you-can-do-this Writing would be more accurate.  My family and I are in the middle of the month that contains my birthday, both of my daughter’s birthdays, both of our mother’s birthdays, plus birthdays for a few of our oldest daughters friends, a couple of cousins and an aunt.  Yup.  It’s very May-cember over here.)