Goals: Keeping Up with the Laundry Between Chapters
At Christmas time, my mom asked my sister and me if we have any goals for 2018. This is a funny question for my mom to ask because, as she would say, her main goal is keeping up with the laundry. My sister chuckled. Like my mother, she isn't apt to map out her goals even though she has them. That would be me.
A year ago, I asked for goal planners. Notice the plural. I used one throughout last year, and then started the other one in December. Goal-setting helps me to maintain focus on what is happening with my writing and my household.
Sometimes the household tasks take precedence. After all, the laundry does need to get done. Grocery shopping is a necessity with a husband and three adult-sized sons. But, setting a standard for myself pushes me to take time to write in the middle of vacuuming up pet hair and cleaning the bathrooms.
I do keep these writing times flexible. Sometimes the dogs need to go out right when I want to sit down and compose for a while. Sometimes my youngest son wants to tell me what he learned about the Third-Century Crisis and how its wars compare to the War Between the States and the Cold War. Sometimes my oldest son, who has been working all morning, needs a break, and we'll go on errands. Sometimes my middle son calls just to check in. Sometimes my husband stays home to work, and I have to discover new ways of quietly chopping vegetables while he does conference calls in the kitchen.
It's all good.
Everything can become part of the story and advance the ultimate goal of writing every day.