It’s March. Suddenly April looks a lot closer than it did a few weeks and an eternity ago. April is an intense month for me, and always has been. This year is no different. There are a few contests I want to do, Camp NaNoWriMo, and then there’s the spring garden planting once the frost-free date passes. In fact, next week, I have to start tomatoes and peppers in the oven. Don’t ask. Let’s just say it makes a good heat box and I just don’t cook much in April. Big old sign on the door that says, “Don’t pre-heat the oven!” to keep me from forgetting I’ve got young plants in there. And it’s possible I might forget. There’s so much going on.

It’s fun. It’s wild. It’s also easy to be overwhelmed by all that I feel “must” be done.

One of my tools I use to keep myself focused and on track is my daily journal. I found it necessary to jot down most of the things I needed to accomplish in each WIP, and it provides a sense of fulfilment when I get to mark things as accomplished. But one of the things it also does is provide me with a good sense of what I can get done in a day vs. what I expect to get done in a day.

Left to my own devices, and given an unlimited page, I’d fill it with things to do in a day. And then I’d feel bad when I didn’t get them done, and add them to the next page. But my journal limits me to a half-page for my to-do list. If it won’t fit on that top half page, I am not going to get to it that day. Then I can decide if it belongs on tomorrow’s list, or if perhaps it wasn’t as important as I thought it was. That little half page is like my sign on the oven door.

I don’t want burned plants.

I don’t need burned-out writer.

Million Word Madness Update : 14,364