Progress bit by bit is still progress

This week we got our Christmas decor up a step at a time.

Lights last night, tree two days ago and ditto the stockings. I still have to put out the holiday placemats, but that's coming.

Same with the second book. I have had schedule changes to deal with, so I have been getting up early on a more regular basis to write, even if it is less than 30 minutes. A hundred words here, 200 there. Progress is progress. I learned while finishing a master's degree while working full time and being a single parent that you have to take your spare minutes seriously. Fit in work when you can.

So right now, I am at 17,000 words and, although I am not on my original work schedule for the second book (can you tell that my master's was in project management?), I am happy about where it is.

The first book is in the proofing stage. And I have a meeting with my publisher, Jim Dickerson of Sartoris Literary Group, today.

So step by step. And about that Ryan Gosling meme, I don't get writer's block often or for very long. Usually I sit down and within 10 or 15 minutes the words flow and I write for a while. Then I don't want to get up except that by then it is usually nearing 7 a.m. and kids have to go to school and I have to go to the newspaper gig.

I think most of success is just showing up. Even if it is for 30-45 minutes at a time.

Being cheap at Christmas

I have an ugly Christmas tree.

It's true. I got it seven years ago. My cats have done their dead level best to destroy it. I have cemented it into a tree stand, and although it was prelit, I have covered it with lights since the lights it came with no longer work.

I am going to try to get one more Christmas out of it, though. I just need more lights. And if I drink enough eggnog, it will start looking better. Instead of beer goggles, it will be noggles.

The tree was priced at $29 and came with a wreath, so not counting the wreath, it comes to about $4 and change per year. But if I keep it next year, the price drops in the $3-a-year range. It's looking better already!

See, anybody with a checkbook can have a great-looking Christmas tree. Christmas-onomics happens when you are a journalist by trade (i.e., not one of your higher-paying gigs) and a writer on the side. Plus, it gets to be a game with me. How far can I stretch that buck without being a total tightwad?

It's that and I like to splurge on some things. My Dear Son laughs at my $3 and change-a-can coffee, but I will gladly plunk down some cash when all the family's together for a dinner out. I will wear pumps from Target to the office, but $100 Adidas when I run (cheaper than an injury or a heart attack).

The more I look at it, the more I like it. The cats can't do anything more to it than they already have, and it is impossible to knock over since it is stuck in a tree stand filled with 20 pounds of cement.

And there's an ornament for each of us. A guitar for one Dear Son, a mortarboard from when the oldest Dear Son graduated from high school, a basketball for the youngest Dear Son and a princess for the Dear Daughter. She hates it because she is not into princesses like when I bought that ornament when she was 5.
And for me, a little figure of Gina from "Dennis the Menace" because I sort of look like a grown-up version of her, only with the same hair.

That tree's looking better and better.

Getting it together

There was a funny old saying: "Once I got it together, I forgot where I put it."

And I do have those days. I have days when I can't remember why I went from one room to another, or crazy days at the day job editing and days where I am so far behind where I would like to be on my second book.

But there are things that, if I do them, make me feel like I have at least part of life together. I was talking with a friend about this the other day ... when parts of life are together, you somehow feel like the rest of it is in place.

Understand that the Food Network is not coming to my house, nor are the Southern Living photographers. I do not have an immaculate home and our meals aren't gourmet. But these things do make me feel like everything else will turn out OK.

• Coffee in the maker before I go to bed. Then all I have to do is turn the coffee maker on first thing and voila: coffee. A shake of cinnamon in the grounds is a nice touch, or a spoonful of hot chocolate mix stirred into my coffee mug. Mmmmmmm.
• A loaded Crock Pot. I do write a lot about these little appliances, but they are a mother/editor/writer's best friend. Load them and then do whatever. Dinner will be ready. We had peas and mashed potato casserole left over from Thanksgiving, so I popped in some rolls last night and put a meatloaf into the Crock Pot. Dinner was super easy, which was good because I had a couple of stories to write that afternoon at the day job.
• Dishes in the dishwasher. A pile of dishes in the sink just drives me crazy. I could have the rest of the house in trainwreck mode, but having an empty kitchen sink makes me feel better. Weird, but true.
• Making my bed. Yes, I know I will mess it right back up at night, but getting in a made bed just feels fresh. 
• Getting up early. If I can get going about 5 or 5:30, I have the bathroom to myself before the kids get up. I have time to dress and not be in a hurry. I can write on my other day job, the super early one of writing books, for a good 45 minutes to an hour. I can drink my coffee and eat breakfast. And I am awake and in good shape when it is time for my kiddos to get going. If I don't get that time, I feel like I am running behind the rest of the day.
• Clothes in the wash. They don't have to be put away, but I feel better about life if my kids have clean folded blue jeans and there are fresh, folded towels in the bathroom.

What home chores make you feel better once you do them?

Back to normal ... sort of

We're eating leftovers now. The kids are back in school, be it middle school or college. I am working away on a Monday morning.

Life is getting back to normal, sort of. It's that post-Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday, we're now in Advent sort of normal.

Christmas lights are up around my neighborhood. Football kept me from putting mine up first this year.

I got out Sunday with one of my besties to walk off some of the food I ate. Thanksgiving is just a hard holiday when you are trying to maintain the size you got down to. It's the only holiday when it is socially acceptable to eat two pieces of pie in one sitting. We walked for an hour and a half, which ought to burn off more than a celery stick.

I have already started shopping for Christmas gifts, which is not the manic rush it used to be. Some of my kids are getting stuff and others are getting money. That part gets easier as the kids get older. That makes up for the schedule craziness that you get when your children are grown. Instead of working around your own work schedule, you are working around multiple school and work schedules. But that is OK, because it is nice they are employed.

I didn't write as much as I would have liked, and that needs to change, but I am stubborn about putting people ahead of writing projects. A book isn't worth missing out on time with those I love. Today, it also wasn't worth getting out of bed, because I slept through my early morning writing time.

But I've now had my coffee, and I have my to-do list. So it's time to get busy. :-)