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The Boiling Point

Ok. Goals Are Nice, But How Do I Keep Focus?

8/25/2017

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“First, forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice.” 
― Octavia E. Butler, Bloodchild and Other Stories

I am trying to maintain my focus, being present in my own life, so much to do on the to do list. This started as a facebook post and got way out of hand. I thought I would take more time and flesh it out a bit more. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. What are you doing to keep focus?

My creative goals: Read a book every week, a poem every day. Screenplay draft. Chapbook draft. Submit new poetry work. Schedule readings. Cookbook. Memoir. Novel. 5 year timeline.

Here are some things I am trying out.
  • Dedicated writing time and space. After kids are in bed. 9-12 every night possible. Not always possible. If I make it a goal it happens at least 3 nights a week. That is 9 hours a week minimum. In practice it ends up about 15 hours a week. It adds up.
  • All chores/ housecleaning/ work stop for the night at 6pm. 6-8 is dinner/ kid time.
  • Dedicated time for grading papers. Office hours work for me. Being physically on campus. Trying for a goal of all grading and planning done on campus.
  • My smart phone notifications off. Phone stays in purse. Messages and calls send alert to my fitbit watch, I return calls and messages that are urgent, but all else waits until I finish task at hand. Then I don't check fb etc every time someone texts.
  • Dedicated time for social media work and play.
  • Lists.
  • White board and pin board up on wall and in use.
  • Schedule. Routine. Communication.  Google calendar. 
  • Timers. I need reminders for due dates, bill pay, grading, school deadlines, events. I also need them for meals and meal planning. Alerts go to fitbit watch too.
  • Exercise. Daily 10,000 step goal. 30 minute exercise goal. Eating better. No snack cakes, cookies, ice cream.

  • No TV. Ends up 1 hour a day with oldest kiddo, if she earns it, reading or tea time if she doesn't. I prefer talk and tea, me.

  • Make time for relationships and experiences too. Stand on porch during thunderstorm, bake bread, take a nap, cuddle and read to kids, make time for neighbor that shows up at the door to talk about the weather or bees or how y'all been. Be there in that moment, full attention. 

What are you doing to meet your creative goals? ​

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New Year's What?

8/7/2017

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I know it is August. August always feels like a new beginning. School starts. Summer is over. We all feel a bit older, yeah? 

I found this list I made in 2016 when I first moved to Savannah: 

Goals for 2016: 

Professional Goals: 
Write at least an hour each day.
Read as much as I can get my hands on. 
Revise and send out work.
Meet IRL the local poets here in Georgia. 
Take more photographs. 
Send that work out too. 
Research MFA programs. 
Send out chapbooks and whole book. 
Set up Etsy store for framed art. 

Personal Goals: 
Find a church. Go. 
Write handwritten letters to people I love. 
Keep in touch. 
Find time 3x a week to do something physical. 
Run.***
Breathe. 
Find a counsellor. Go. 
Find a massage therapist. Go. 
Find a nice way to turn down dating invitations. *Keep to it. 

The really cool thing about this list is the only thing I have yet to do is the etsy shop for my professional goals and find a church for personal (we have been to a few, still looking for the one that clicks)..  

But look too what these goals yielded in both 2016 and 2017. That book that I sent out became a published collection! I toured with it. It is on Amazon.com. I know a lot of local poets and writers now and they are fabulous and supportive. I did a lot of breathing. A lot of breathing. Two galleries hung my photographs. I bought a house. Gravel Hill. A five bedroom plantation house on just about four acres and near enough to the city. I have bees again. Land. Trees. I lost 20 more lbs. My kids rocked their first year of public school. I accepted my first dinner invitation and it was magical, healing, and that's all I will say about that. 

And through it all I wrote, sent out work, read, talked about writing. 

This list felt impossible when I made it. Impossible. 

This new list feels that way too: 
Goals for 2107/2018 

Professional: 
Get up the online store
Finish screenplay draft
Revise book 2 enough to send out first half as a chap
Update camera equipment
Blog once a week
Grow the writers' retreat
Find full time employment that still meets my parenting goals
Host a new writer's group (idea might work)
​Poetry Reading in NYC

Personal: 
Find a church, go.
Regain lost muscle tone
Workout 3x a week
Walk everyday 
Eat better, more vegetables
Get porch repaired and painted




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    Danelle Lejeune
    Rambler Poet

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