So I had this notion that I would spend September, having concluded my bookdraft, taking care of me a little bit, in that half-luxurious half-abstemious spa-resort type of way. A third of the way through September, let's review my progress, shall we?
PLAN: Sleep 8 hours every night.
REALITY: Ha! Kids started school and have to be out the door cruelly early. Also, my refrigerator is going on the fritz and I've been spending many middle-of-night hours researching possible replacements. Also, I got in bed the other evening saying to myself, "Ah, I'll just read a chapter of this second Larsson novel." I finished it several hours later.
PLAN: Eat only wholesome foods from my garden.
REALITY: Leftover supplies from camping include Skittles, which I can't resist, and I had to make cookies for a writing group meeting at my house, of which there were many leftovers.
PLAN: Yoga or meditation every day for 20 minutes.
REALITY: You'd think that 20 minutes wouldn't be too much to ask, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you?
PLAN: Clean every surface of house, and take unused stuff out to donate.
REALITY: This one I did, actually, over the last several days. Though my garden is a weedy mess.
PLAN: Bubble baths.
REALITY: Nope. Not least because I've been having drain issues--my ancient house has a drum trap that has permanently decided to go on strike, and if I bathe, it'll take two days for all that water to drain. I did, however, replumb my bathroom sink a couple of days ago, so it's draining nicely, at least.
PLAN: Splurge on full bottle of that fancy foaming face wash with lemongrass, a sampler size of which I lifted during one of my fancy hotel visits last year.
REALITY: $50 for 16oz? Are you kidding me?
PLAN: Get my sister to go buy me some new clothes.
REALITY: I'm on leave. What the hell do I care what I'm wearing?
PLAN: Wake refreshed each morning and leisurely begin revising on Donne chapter, to be finished by end of September.
REALITY: Confronted reality that Donne chapter needs major revising--burn down and start over type of revising. So I'll be banging my head against that. After the weekend. My new self-deadline of Oct 31 for that chapter will allow me a couple more days of not-quite-spa living, before Monday brings the structured schedule of fall in full force.
Portrait of Clara (as a chemist)
1 month ago
2 comments:
This reads like a new year's resolution list. And I guess for us teaching types, it IS the new year. Well, there's always time! Maybe you should reduce your list to two or three things that you really want to get done (or do regularly), and then it'll be more manageable.
One of my favorite lines in my novel has to do with new year's resolutions. The main character is asked if she has any resolutions for the new year, and she says, "Quit smoking and lose weight - same as every year." I don't know why, but that line cracks me up. Out of context, it's probably very banal.
*word verification? trype. ha.
I get much closer to my sleep goal if I don't limit myself to sleeping at night. That way I can justify taking a long nap in the middle of the day--the part of the day when I never get anything done anyway--as achieving a goal.
Someday I will write a(nother) book which will never be published and I will call it "Napping as Work."
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