My Day of Freedom

I did get my day of freedom yesterday.  I didn’t go anywhere.  I didn’t even talk to or see anyone other than my husband.  I didn’t go on Facebook, and I completely ignored the phone.  It was wonderful.  I may have to do it more often.  I was able to get quite a bit accomplished too; not as much as I would have liked, but definitely enough to call it a good day.

I cleaned out and organized the refrigerator.  This always makes me happy and makes me feel like a success in the kitchen, so that was excellent.  

I caught up most of the laundry, including putting it away (that’s always the really hard part for me for some reason), and some of the ironing.  I am beginning to think that the cats pull clean clothes from the closets and dressers and toss them in the hamper while we’re gone.  I think it’s possible; our cats can behave very badly sometimes, and we seem to generate an exorbitant amount of laundry for just two people.  

I submitted a poem to an online publication.  I had been meaning to do this for about two months, but between procrastination and a fear of rejection I just hadn’t gotten around to it.  It’s submitted now.  It will be about three months before I hear anything back from them, so now that it’s done I’m trying not to think much about it.  Yes, I am aware of the fact that if I’d submitted it when I first decided to I’d only have about another month to wait before hearing from them.  Live and learn.

Continuing on the writing front, I organized my partially written posts into folders within my folder on the desk top, and named them appropriately.  I will be happier because I can find things now, and my husband will be happier because they’re organized and not all over the desktop.  (He has this theory that you shouldn’t save everything to the desktop and that that’s what folders are for.)  I also worked on a few posts for later on, though not quite as many as I had hoped.  

I also scrubbed the kitchen floor; the on your hands and knees with a bucket of soapy water kind of scrubbing, instead of using a mop or Swiffer.  I haven’t done this in a while, and let me just say that almost every inch of my body is screaming “WHY???  WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?” today.  But the floor looks really, really good.  

The floor scrubbing was good too because, being a mindless activity that kept my hands busy, it gave me time to think about some things.  As I mentioned Tuesday, I’ve been edgy and snappish lately, so I spent the time trying to figure out some solutions.  I concluded that at least part of the trouble is that I’ve lapsed into a very disorganized state.  I am happiest when I know what I’m making for dinner every (or at least most) night for the week, when my work clothes are laid out the night before, and when things are just generally well-organized and planned.  This hasn’t been happening lately.  I’m not entirely sure why, but I suspect it’s due to a combination of poor time management and a general lack of organization.

I found some great articles on organization with some tips and ideas that I plan to try, and I’m working on a plan for getting some things organized.  I’ll probably be writing more about that later.  

The time management part is harder.  I seem to have a pattern of saying yes to everything I’m asked to do or participate in, getting burned out that way, and then saying no to everything.  I’m still working on a solution for this one.  Most of the things I commit to seem important at the time, so I’m having a hard time figuring out what to say no to.  How do you prioritize?  Do you have a daily/weekly/monthly limit for things you’ll commit to?  Do you have any suggestions at all for better time management?

I also came to the realization that I spend (okay, waste) a lot of time every week on Facebook and talking on the phone.  I realize that not all phone conversations are a waste of time, and there are definitely people that I need and want to talk to.  I need to stop answering my phone any and every time it rings and staying on the phone until the other person needs to go.  I plan to start utilizing voicemail and prioritizing whether or not a call needs to be returned immediately, based on the voicemail and what I’m currently trying to accomplish.  And I think I’m going to start setting serious limits for my time on Facebook.  I’m also considering whittling down my friends list.  Have any of you tried this, or had success in limiting phone and Facbook time?

I hope you all had a safe, wonderful, and happy Fourth of July.

To Prompt Or Not To Prompt?

I fell off of the blogging and writing wagon a little bit this weekend.  I just didn’t have anything to offer, and needed to retreat within myself for a little while, but I am back now.  In the process of coming back I have been catching up on reading the posts on the blogs I usually read regularly.

One of the posts, from Delores at the feathered nest, was about writing prompts.  She has been providing a weekly photo for anyone who’d like to participate to use as a prompt ever since the A to Z Challenge ended.  I have participated every week except last week.  (It just wasn’t a good week, and I didn’t have it in me.)  I enjoy it.  The prompts are usually enough to get the creative juices flowing, or at least enough to force me to write something.  That has been a good thing for me.

Apparently not everyone is in agreement that writing prompts are a good thing.  Personally, I don’t understand how it can bother someone for someone else to use a prompt.  I would love it if I was able to find enough in life to inspire me to write something every day without relying on prompts.  I would also love to win the lottery.  I don’t think it’s going to happen.

Most of us have to work, not always in a job we find inspiring.  Our time is limited.  We get caught up in going to work, doing laundry, going to the grocery store, and doing what must be done.  Sometimes we may simply not be inspired by what’s around us.  That’s where the prompt comes in, at least for me. 

I have come to view writing prompts much like take-out food.  Is it better to have a wonderful home-cooked meal, or linger over a nice meal in a nice restaurant than to have take-out from a Styrofoam box?  Of course it is!  Is it always practical?  No.  Sometimes the take-out food fills a need, and it’s the only way to fill that need.  I think writing prompts are very much the same.  Would I write something better if I were able to spend my day on a quiet beach, soaking up the sun, with the wonderful salt smell in my nostrils?  Most likely.  Can I do that every day?  Not until I win the lottery.  So the writing prompt meets a need for me in the best, most practical way possible.  It gives me something to work with, a place to start from.

What are your thoughts on writing prompts?  Do you use them?  What do you use, words, photos, places?  Do you find prompts helpful, or find that you work better without them?