The First Thing to Go

Summer is practically over, despite the fact that it's still 100 degrees outside, and I am once again struggling to manage a busy schedule in which I wear numerous hats. This was one of those weeks when all the hats collided.

• School staffs are back in their buildings and I've begun calling on customers. This week I saw two principals, a reading coach, a literacy specialist, a preK director and held an open house for all the teachers at school. It was a difficult week for many. A lot of people needed a listening ear.
• It's magazine deadline for the Bugler, so I'm making sure all the files are in order, proofed, lay-out instructions provided, etc., so everything can go to the publisher. I have to nudge my boss to nudge the commanding general to please send me his column so I can get it in the magazine. Not that he actually writes it himself, of course, but the nudging is still necessary.
• Sent a proposal off to a new publisher for a set of books.
• Met with my fabulous critique group who gave me some much needed direction for reworking my current manuscript.

Managing my schedule is always a challenge. That's probably true for most of us. I find that the first thing to go when schedule demands tighten is my writing time. Over the summer, I enjoyed having multiple hours most days to work on writing projects. Now that "normal work" is intruding again, I'm working hard to keep those writing slots scheduled, unmovable, high on the priority list. This little blog post may be the only "actual" writing I've done all week, but I'm determined that's going to change.

Here, for Poetry Friday, is a thought on time from the Hebrew poet-king, David.

Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days;

let me know how fleeting is my life.

You have made my days a mere handbreadth;

the span of my years is as nothing before you.

Each man's life is but a breath.

Psalm 39:4-5

For more Poetry Friday posts, visit Laura over at Author Amok.