I’m having a real hard time this month keeping on task and accomplishing things. Feeling very overwhelmed but at least I’m aware of it and I’ve also made the people I love aware of it and am making progress toward fixing it.

Advice to others:
1) Get yours eyes checked yearly or at a time determined by your eye care professional.
2) Get the anti-reflective stuff on them. Never “be cheap” and not get it.
3) If you fall on ice and your wrists hurt after a day or two don’t “be cheap” (if you have insurance) and visit a doctor (if not the ER). You’ll probably save work time/money in the long run.
4) Make sure you keep some time to yourself not just each week, but every day.
5) Tell your loved ones that you love them.

1) to write more with pen and paper. to respond more timely to letters and even just send some “just because”
2) to think about my words before I speak (or write them)
3) to think about my actions before I do them
4) to try to give more to others. i’ve been very selfish this year (we give as generously as we can to charities but I still feel selfish)
5) to try to learn to ask for money. i consult. i have to bill clients. i’m a solo business which means I need to do this transaction and I’m the only one who can. this is the hardest thing for me. people (15+ years ago) loved me to baby sit because I’d end up saying “pay what you want” and would go home happy. What else was I going to do that night? Any money I received was exciting.
6) and as I learn to ask for it (the money), to not spend it because I have it or something is on sale or cheap. a new suit, yes i did sorta need one (it was 50% off which helped) but do i really need another pen? more yarn? I’ve been pretty good on the shoes and bags this past year, so there is hope.
7) to spend more time with friends in person and to travel to see my best friend.
8) to spend time working on me. 15 years ago I ran. Today I do not. I need that. I need to try to do that again.
9) to spend time with my husband. we might be in the same room for hours and hours on end but we could be on different planets for all we notice.
10) to take time with the meals I prepare and enjoy them. I often wolf down my food and rarely take the time to enjoy what i took the time to prepare. i hope to make it to the green market at least once a week. i did well for a while but have slacked off the past few weeks.

• Finish Fantasia: an Algerian Cavalcade by Assia Djebar
• Work on client C’s project
• Finish up year-end stuff for client B
• Clean up some loose ends for client H
• Work on memo for client M
• Keep desk area clean
• Eat lunch every work day [Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri]
• PG posts for: Books, Create, Travel
• Write 30 minutes, creatively every day [Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri]
• Finish second draft of paper by Wednesday at 7pm
• Work on year-end client billing

(2) Pack my bag & look at to-do list & calendar the night before.

(3) Go to bed by 11pm.

(4) Write for fun for 30 minutes daily (I did it for NaNoWriMo, I can continue to do this).

(5) Complete second draft of paper for class by Wednesday 03 December.

(6) Bill all clients as necessary.

(7) Clean up filing clutter and toss whatever I can.

(8) Catch up on reading. Return books to libraries as I can.

(9) Try to complete seraphim, or at least the 3rd chart.

(10) Figure out new Penguin Girl schedule of 3-4 decent posts weekly. Post goals and how I feel I’m doing here at least once weekly. (Including another post for this week.)

(11) Eat lunch before 3pm whenever possible.

. . .

How did I do during November? I’ve eaten breakfast regularly. I guess I feel better for it. It does make it easier to wait until lunch. I’m trying to keep the apartment cleaner. I successfully completed NaNoWriMo with the best writing I’ve done in years.

. . .
this post was composed while listening to Hugleiðingar – I. Andante espressivo from the album “Cantus Borealis: Wind Music from the Faroe Islands” by Reykjavik Wind Quintet

Why did I write it? Why am I writing here?

Apparently, I can write over 50,000 words in a month. But to eek out a mere six thousand for a fascinating (no, really!) research paper I need to complete by next Tuesday?

Well, just today the toilet was scrubbed, I let my husband vacuum, I invoiced some clients, we went shopping for bathroom wall paint…

What do you do when you are procrastinating a writing deadline? Because they generally are sudden creatures, those deadlines. It’s not like I didn’t know about this one since September.

I find that all the yarn in my stash is begging for me to cast on (I started another cowl late last night) or random books are interesting me, or that I suddenly must clean and reorganise every book in our disorganised library. Meals become more elaborate and thought out. Anything so that I do not have to do what I want and need to do … which is write on a topic I enjoy.

This paper? Well, the class is looking at the voices of anonymous women and the violence often given when trying to write their voices or the impossibility of that task. I’m looking at the changes technology hath wrought on that. Look at how twitter responded to the horrid #mumbai attacks this past week. Sure, more are able to write, but they are doing it in public spaces (not necessarily street art, I mean in blogs and web forums and things). So why am I not writing?

I think I’ve become too close to the topic. I need to step back.

Bye, I’m going to clean my desk.

For example, last night I passed the 45k mark for NaNo.

Some things I’ve not planned so well. One is something with a client which I need to work on annually and client procrastinates which leaves me scrambling to get them what they need yesterday. Ok, some of this is my fault. I *know* this is an annual task and I just don’t prep for it until the client says to.

Another is that I must finish a book for tomorrow’s class. It’s an ok book, but takes me a while to read. *sigh*

Lastly, I’ve allowed myself a prolonged break from finishing the course research paper. NOT good.

*sigh*

My goal for this week is to keep my head up, my tongue bitten, and just plug away at everything as I can. That the weather turned grey and icky this afternoon is not helping. I’m going to tryt to continue to ignore the headache, freezing feet, and sneezing. Lastly, I’ll ponder where the heck November and the year went.

I did ok last week. Two drawers of stuff that had sat on the dining table for a week got reorganized and put away neatly. I looked at my calendar and to-do list daily, often multiple times. I didn’t procrastinate much..