New Year, New Goals: A Story Told in Ice

(Crosspost from See Jane Publish.)

My long holiday weekend got a little bit longer thanks to a lovely White Just-Missed-Christmas topped with an icing of, uh, ice. But since I was stuck at my computer, I figured there was no excuse not to sketch out my plans for the new year.

At first I wasn’t too excited about it…

Goal-setting is a little intimidating. I have to think ahead for a whole year?! It’s hard to see that far ahead, sometimes, and the path is slippery.

But ’tis the season for new year’s resolutions…

I know my big plans can only be achieved through drip-by-drip word counts and daily goals…

And so I start planning. At first it seems like a wild tangle, my brain is just a chaos of ideas and wishes and wannabes. These are my synapses on goal-setting:

But then the pieces start to come together and smooth out. Everything starts to move in the same direction. I can see a way forward through the wilderness of A. what I want to accomplish and B. what is possible. (Since I don’t have a stop-time machine.)

Eventually, my twelve-month to-do list starts to look — dare I say — rather impressive and stately…

I actually feel even inspired! I see potential brilliance hidden inside these small beginnings!

It’s early days, I know — very early days! — but I see the shape of what is to come.

With attention to my deadlines, I’ll be mowing down my goals!

If you have suggestions for launching with enthusiasm into the new year, please share in comments. And Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the laundromat

My washing machine died full of soap and water (is there any reason washing machines can’t die BEFORE the soap and water part?) so on New Year’s Eve I went to the laundromat with my sopping, soapy clothes. Happy freakin’ New Year.

And then…

While I was at the laundromat brooding — partly about a new story I’m plotting, but mostly about how unfair it was that I was at a laundromat on New Year’s Eve — a guy biked up. After poking through the ashtray outside, he came in to check the machines for lost change and dig pop cans out of the recycle bin. His baseball hat was askew and his front teeth were missing. A frayed knee brace was pretty much the only thing holding up his baggy jeans.

He asked me if I knew where the lost & found was. I pointed him toward the locked office (ain’t nobody at a laundromat on New Year’s Eve who doesn’t have to be) where the refund forms dangled from the door knob and loaned him my pen, which wasn’t doing me any good coming up with the heroine’s internal motivation anyway.

I asked him what he was looking for — partly because maybe I’d seen it, but mostly because writers are nosy — and he said somebody had taken his laundry from one of the dryers.

“All my socks,” he said. Then he added in a mumble, “And underwear.”

Stealing somebody’s laundry is low. Stealing somebody’s socks and underwear is really, really low.

He filled out the form and pushed it through the slot in the office door. When he returned my pen, I gave him the rest of my quarters. His fingernails were black with dirt.

“You can get some new socks,” I said. Then I thought maybe that sounded presumptuous — I mean, he might have had access to more socks somewhere else; just because he looked homeless doesn’t mean he was — so I added, “Or a New Year’s Eve beer.”

“I’m laying off the sauce,” he said. “The socks’ll keep me warmer.”

Probably there’s a 50/50 chance he was fibbing about the socks or the beer. As a writer, I look squinty eyed at everybody’s stories, even my own. But anybody out on New Year’s Eve looking for half-smoked cigarette butts, empty cans, and lost laundry deserves the benefit of the doubt.

I’m ending 2013 with a bunch of annoyances: there’s a mysterious oily patch that may or may not be coming from the car, the dog has an intermittent limp that was getting better but of course got worse right before the vet closed for the holiday, I just spent way too much at the dentist, someone stole XY’s bike off our front porch on Christmas Eve (not the guy at the laundromat; I checked his bike), and I’m already hyperventilating about whether I can really do everything I want to do in the next twelve months. Also I have a zit on my chin. And let’s not forget the broken washing machine. 

But I think I’m going to start 2014 with a more positive mindset. After all, I still have a dryer. And thanks to my loving family, I got cute new socks and underwear for Christmas. I’m not sure the guy at the laundromat would appreciate being my New Year’s Eve attitude adjustment — I didn’t have that many quarters left — but I appreciated the reminder that I have more opportunities than some people to make the most of 2014.

What I do with the new year isn’t entirely up to me, of course. I think none of us can take all the credit (or all the blame) for where we end up. While my goals are properly self-directed, some of my wishes are reliant on forces outside my control. But how I deal with the inevitable challenges of 2014 is entirely up to me, so I’m going to focus on my strengths and resources and do my best.

Here’s to a happy, healthy, rewarding new year for all. And here’s hoping we all get to face it with clean underthings.

Resolve 2013: Organizing my organization

So I’ve had eight days to contemplate a lot of great advice on how to GET ORGANIZED in 2013. (I’d like to point out that eight days is only two days more than it took God Almighty to organize the universe; just sayin’ that, considering the state of MY universe, trying to GET ORGANIZED in a few days less than a year seems a wee bit ambitious…)

I’m composing this post a few days before the end of the 2012 (See how I’m TRYING to GET ORGANIZED?) because I’m frantically busy at the moment. I’m finishing one book (Sheerways #2), starting another (Steel Born #3), and organizing the launch of a third (Steel Born #2) first thing in January, like, as you are reading this right this second. I’ve already marshaled my tools to keep me on tracks. Here you can see:

• My calendar with days slowly fading away
• Sticky notes
• Lined notecards
• Print-outs of checklists
• My color-coordinated pens (alternating black and red for “needs to be done now” and “OMG needs to be done right now!!!”)
• Mini bottle of J&B… How did that get in here?!?… Ooh, look, there’s still a little left

Already, I’m seeing a failing in my resolution to GET ORGANIZED. I have too much to do. It’s not even 2013 and I’m already doomed. THIS IS WHAT THE MAYANS WERE TRYING TO WARN US ABOUT!!!!

No, no, calming breath. If we can survive the ending of one epoch, certainly we can survive the beginning of another. But I am going to think smaller, with more bullet points. Instead of trying to organize my universe, I am going to organize my office. There, that sounds more reasonable. My office is where I spend most of my time and it directly impacts my writing, which is what I love, so I should be most motivated to do this, at least to start.

Organizing my office lends itself nicely to bullet points and checklists:

• Organize desk drawers and filing cubbies
• Organize armoire
• Organize bookshelves 1-3
• Organize closet

Okay, this I can do. As soon as I finish my current projects in February…

All my author friends will be posting their wrap-up thoughts on their chosen resolutions — including procrastination and shrinking closets. How convenient! I think maybe we should reconvene on December 31, 2013 and see how we did!

Stops on the “Resolve 2013” tour: January 1-9, 2013

Maggie Jaimeson – Take a Vacation
Jessa Slade – Get Organized
Paty Jager – Volunteerism
Linda Mercury – Creating a Literary (or Creative) Life
Jenna Bayley-Burke – Eat Healthier
Cassiel Knight – No More Procrastination
Cathryn Cade – Take Time for those OTHER Creative Passions
Su Lute – Reduce Stress: Find and Follow Your Bliss
Jamie Brazil – Shrink My Closet

Resolve 2013: Priority organization

Note from Jessa: Today we have Paty Jager telling me how to GET ORGANIZED. Paty is an author of Western and paranormal romances AND she is a rancher in real life. So I figure she probably has some good words of wisdom on staying on top of things.

GET ORGANIZED advice from:
Paty Jager
Author of Secrets of a Mayan Moon

I have my own system of organization.  I’m not someone that has to have a pristine desk or sparkling house around me to be able to function. But I do need order. There may be three piles of items on my desk but those are piles that pertain to what I’m doing. One pile has research for the current book, another pile has marketing and promotion things I need to tend to, and one is my list of to do’s and calendar/date book.  Sometimes they get mixed together,  but that’s because I may be working on all of it at the same time, like now. ;0) Writing my latest work in progress, promoting the last book, formatting the next book, and keeping up with the places I’m blogging.

My house is the same. My closet holds the clean clothes, and the top of the trunk at the end of my bed may have a good pair of jeans draped over the top and my “town” sweatshirt.  My pjs are at the foot of the bed. Books I read in bed or when taking a bath are on my night stand.  My room doesn’t have to be immaculate …it needs to be functional. I don’t live in clutter, but I do leave things out that are used frequently. I like my house to be comfortable and have a lived in look.

I have a system that works for me. I believe that as long as you know where things are, what you need is within reach, and the rest is tucked away, life is good and stress free!

Places where you can connect with me:
Website  |  Blog  |  Goodreads  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Pinterest

Another Jessa note: This is such great, practical, no-nonsense advice, just as I’d expect from a lady rancher! Now, if I could just get Paty to train a herding dog to keep me in line on my organizing… Today I’m posting with Maggie Jaimeson on her resolution to take a vacation. This is one resolution I can totally support!

Stops on the “Resolve 2013” tour: January 1-9, 2013

Maggie Jaimeson – Take a Vacation
Jessa Slade – Get Organized
Paty Jager – Volunteerism
Linda Mercury – Creating a Literary (or Creative) Life
Jenna Bayley-Burke – Eat Healthier
Cassiel Knight – No More Procrastination
Cathryn Cade – Take Time for those OTHER Creative Passions
Su Lute – Reduce Stress: Find and Follow Your Bliss
Jamie Brazil – Shrink My Closet

Resolve 2013: Organizing: Start small & intimate

Note from Jessa: Today we have author and bellydancer Linda Mercury suggesting ways to GET ORGANIZED. If I tried dancing in my office right now, I’d break an ankle in all this clutter!

GET ORGANIZED advice from:
Linda Mercury
Author of the Blood Wings Series from eKensington
Dracula’s Secret | Dracula’s Desires | Dracula Unleashed

Often lost in the mist of “get organized” tips and tricks is one inescapable truth. Organizing is an act of profound self-love.

Organizing reduces anxiety and promotes a harmonious life. The smallest act of creating order from chaos will soften your shoulders and create a space for you to flourish. That’s why I recommend you always start organizing in your bedroom before anywhere else.

Your bedroom is where you dream, dress, love, cuddle. It is the most intimate place, where you are the most vulnerable. Forget the bit about having other people over. Invite yourself to the feast, first.

Bio: Linda Mercury left behind her varied careers as a librarian, art model, and professional clown to pursue writing. She’s interested in writing, romance, Middle Eastern History, reading, organizing, cooking, hand-made silk Turkish rugs, and the Nike of Samothrace.

Find Linda: Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Another Jessa note: I like the idea of starting with an “easy” room first. My bedroom is so small, it only gets somewhat cluttered. (Just don’t open the closet!) Today I’m posting with Jamie Brazil on her resolution of taming her closet. Oh man, I hope I can offer something coherent.

Stops on the “Resolve 2013” tour: January 1-9, 2013

Maggie Jaimeson – Take a Vacation
Jessa Slade – Get Organized
Paty Jager – Volunteerism
Linda Mercury – Creating a Literary (or Creative) Life
Jenna Bayley-Burke – Eat Healthier
Cassiel Knight – No More Procrastination
Cathryn Cade – Take Time for those OTHER Creative Passions
Su Lute – Reduce Stress: Find and Follow Your Bliss
Jamie Brazil – Shrink My Closet