Monday is for planning...

Good morning! There have been several new faces in the comments and that always makes me excited! A big HELLO to all of your new readers and followers. I see your lovely faces on my sidebar. Welcome! I still haven't made it through as many IWSG posts as I wanted to. WOW are there a lot of  bloggers on that list. It's a wonderful problem to have (as I'm sure Alex would agree with me). Ever since I started back to school full time, Mondays haven't scared me so much. The last full time job I had was a terrible fit for me and Monday brought a sense of dread the likes of which I had not experienced in a long time. Don't get me wrong; I was thankful for the job and it came at the right time. But over time, it was painfully clear I did not belong in that environment. Now, I look forward to Mondays. I see them as a clean slate, a fresh start, and an opportunity to plan a week that will leave me feeling as though I've actually accomplished something come Sunday night. Ever get the feeling at the end of a week that you've just floated through, let your schedule control you? Oi I feel like that waaay too often. This Monday is dark and dreary: just my style! A blanket of fog is covering the cow pasture behind our yard and the regiment of trees that line the fence are dressed out in orange, yellow and red. A troop of black birds just landed and are clamoring for worms and insects. And a writer is sitting at her computer, sipping tea and running through her mind all the things she needs to do and wants to do. HOW do you balance the needs and the wants? HOW do you allocate time to get things accomplished while still maintaining hobbies? AND HOW do you actually write those stories that are begging to be put on paper and screen? It comes down to this fact: I all my schedule to dictate what I do. In other words, I allow my day to set the tone for what I accomplish. All this means is I'm not taking responsibility for my time and that's no way to live. If we as writers, artists, human beings intend to accomplish anything in this life (being a great parent or spouse, getting the laundry washed, writing 50,000 words during the month of November) we must recognize that everything we do is important and time is a precious commodity. We will never get the time we spend or waste back. SPEND IT WISELY. Hopefully this post isn't too somber. Autumn is always a time for me to get my priorities straight, try to reign in things that I'm doing that aren't really getting anywhere. So I've set myself a new goal for the rest of 2012: Don't let time get away from me. Do what I can and don't stress over what I can't. Do what I can do where I'm at. As I put on my blog banner: Start where you are, write what you know, make do and mend, and grow, baby, grow!" Time to live by my own advice :) TELL ME: How do YOU reign in your time when you see it getting away from you? Any other NaNo writers feeling the inevitability that you won't win NaNo this year? What's so special about starting where you are and growing where you're planted?