Another year over, a new one just begun

[janetlin]

I've made a few different resolutions for this year, and may still make more, but so far today at least I'm on track. Woo hoo! 1 day down.

I want to be more serious about my writing, which means make a point to sit down every day and get something out. Ideally of course this would be stories, but even nonfiction stream of consciousness and/or blogging counts as eventually I will run out of real-life stuff to talk about and start making stuff up. ;) To that end, I've dusted off my Writer's Book of Days for daily prompts, and am using http://750words.com as recommended by eonone to keep me on task.

I had this fantastic idea that instead of making a big scary (and vague) resolution like "keep the house clean" I would instead word it as "do one bit of house-tidying every day." See? Much less scary. I figure it will be easier for me to stick with it if all I have to do today is scrub the toilet. All I have to do tomorrow is vaccuum. The day after that is sort the mail that's accumulating on the buffet. Etc. Now, the apartment is in such a state that unless I go crazy and do a binge one day, it might take me into February before the place as a whole is tidy. But hey that's February and that means I have the whole rest of the year to carry on just doing one thing every day and I will never have to stress about my house being a mess. That sounds pretty awesome.

We're planning to go to church tomorrow morning (another resolution), and my perennial one is to stop biting my fingernails and I'm happy to say that I didn't today. There was much cuticle-nipping and filing whenever I got the urge instead. Morgan is into having her nails done so I think if I can institute a weekly manicure day for both of us, that will please her and help me quit biting. Plus it's a big-girl bonding thing and that's time that I will spend particularly with her, so hopefully she won't feel forgotten or overshadowed when the baby comes. I know a certain amount of that is unavoidable, but both Alan and I are aware of that potential so we're putting things in place ahead of time to stave it off. Alan's time specifically with Morgan, for instance, is teaching her to swordfight (I think I mentioned us buying wooden swords at the pirate fair last summer or fall for this purpose? Well, it's finally started happening). And of course the good thing about instituting these things now is that she won't associate them with the arrival of the baby, won't feel like everything changes all at once. Instead she'll have these nice familiar routines she can depend on when so much else is different.

Comments

[lauraqofu.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

Hey...thanks for the link to the The Writer's Book of Day's. Looks like exactly what I need.

Sounds like you got the sibling rivalry sorted so you can head it off before it begins. I'm so happy for you with the new baby and all that.

[alierakieron.livejournal.com]

I am a HUGE fan of the tiny nibbles approach to getting things done around the house. ALso? The timer. I can handle 15 minutes of housework far better than the vague "clean the living room" edict.

[janetlin.livejournal.com]

The timer is a great idea for tasks like the living room that are harder to pin down to specifics.

[alierakieron.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. Or even just ones that seem interminable, like folding Laundry Mountain. :stares balefully:

[starfirenz.livejournal.com]

Hey there - sounds like an eminently sensible approach to tidying and, well, pretty much everything, really. I could totally do with doing something similar in my room (which is doing a good impression of a disaster zone, without any kind of disaster as an excuse)

Best of luck with it, and all your resolutions :-)