Another quick post via phone this week. This past week was surprisingly productive. I got a lot done around the house (for a change), got some good “enriching” activities in for the kiddo, and made pretty decent progress on the revision of a different short story than the one I’d been battling with before. I even had time to jot a few posts, and a few scene scraps for an idea that’s been bouncing around in my head for a while. I’ve got my sights set on a few anthology calls, and am actually feeling pretty good, writing-wise (and–the best part–not guilty!).
This week, I’m working on: Reviewing a rough draft (short story) I wrote a couple weeks ago to start planning the edit, shooting for an early September submission. Core idea’s there, but it needs a lot of clarifying. If I’ve got time, and if things work out, maybe I’ll start up a new short story, but mostly, I really need to revamp my reading.
What’s inspiring me?: It’s an age old story: girl tries FlyLady, and it goes well for a while, but then life gets busy, the girl moves, and forgets about the habits she’d started forming. Then, years and a child later, when the girl is buried in housework up to her ears and craving enough time in her days to indulge in her own interests, girl rediscovers FlyLady and starts shining her sink again. Miraculously, her home becomes clean and tidy forever, the end! (Okay, maybe not so much the end, but the small habits like the Swish and Swipe, the sink, and the focus on Hot Spots have been a major game changer around the house. I’ll be the first to say all the “blessing your home” nonsense gets old pretty quick (and I downright REFUSE to do the cultish “lace up shoes”), and there are WAY too many emails, but seriously, I hate housework and doing even just a few of these small habits keeps the house in surprisingly good shape and relaxes the hell out of me. Definitely worth it if you struggle to keep up with housework.)
What am I avoiding?: Not really avoiding anything–just trying to go with the flow, which seems to be working. I *need* to avoid is checking my email for two beta critiques of the current short story, but that’s it for now… :)
Maggie Slater 