Retreat

A retreat is a time to admit that you are over matched, that you have to give ground so that you can consolidate your forces. A retreat is not the same thing as a defeat. A well executed retreat may actually be the key to victory.

This weekend I retreated. I did no business tasks. I did the bare minimum of writing tasks. Instead I focused on the kids and the house and sleeping a lot. This is roughly analogous to retreating to secure my supply lines. The supplies are secure and they’ll keep coming as long as I do not over extend myself in my hurry to go places. Tomorrow I resume my assault on The Schedule trying to make sure that everything gets done in good order.

I think a key tactic will be to do as my friend Janci has done and make a master plan for the next several months. I’ll assign all the necessary tasks to various weeks. Then I will put aside the master plan and only pay attention to this week’s problems. This will be important because I have so many different irons in the fire.

Howard — time spent, jokes shared, conversations had, etc
Children — field trips, treat days, special events, Holidays, story reading, lessons, tantrum management, etc, etc, etc
Household — cleaning, repairing, maintaining, and washing for clothes, dishes, yard and house
Family accounting — Got to make sure the money doesn’t run out too soon while still paying all the bills
business accounting — ditto on the money not running out
Tub of Happiness — preparing for the mass mailing and book release party
The Teraport Wars — installing InDesign, learning to use InDesign, creating the lay out, lining up guest art, filling all the white space, etc
Writing — write regular blog entries, edit blog entries for a book, submit at least two short stories for publication, finish teaching creative writing, attend my writers group, be a reader for a couple of friends
Social — I have friends I’d like to keep and to spend time with
Health — Pay attention to what I eat, confer with doctor, possible further tests

I do not think I’ve ever laid it all out in a row like that. No wonder I’ve been busy. But seeing all of it does help because each of these things have gaps in them, times where there is not much to do. I just have to make sure that the busy time of one thing overlaps the gaps in several other things. Time to get my planner and start making notes.