Peeking Out From Under the Mountain of Chaos

Yesterday I turned another year older. The jury is out as to whether I'm any wiser, but my list of "things to do before I die" is not any shorter. I guess I'm luckier than most: I've found my life partner, we have beautiful, intelligent children, and we're not in danger of losing our home. Most of the things I want to finish are located in three places - my basement, my bedroom, and my computer. I'm a creativity junkie, and I spend my time going from project to project. Around my sewing machine and serger are piles of fabric. In my basement are file drawers full of patterns, cabinets of paints and brushes, and hidden in my computer files are several stories in various stages of completion. And then there are the instruments (oboe, flute, clarinet, saxophone, trombone, and piano) and the mountains of music for each.

I know that I should complete one project before going on to another. I know that my messy house is the result of tackling too many projects at once. I know I spend way too much time on the internet, reading books, watching television, etc. instead of completing my projects. But it's like rich, chocolatey dessert - I KNOW I shouldn't eat them, but that doesn't mean I listen to myself.

So - why the blog? I've been observing other blogs. Some are informational, some are inspirational and motivating, and others are just cathartic. Maybe this is a bit of the last, but I think maybe this is about accountability. A writing friend recently blogged about the similarity between dieting and writing. And one of the things I learned from my thirty years in Weight Watchers is that writing down what you consume helps you stay on track. Also, letting other people know what you are doing means that when you stray, it's not a secret.

I don't think I'll ever have the type of home worthy of a spread in a women's magazine (unless it's an advertisement for an episode of "Mission: Organization") but I'd like to decrease the size of the piles of unfinished projects. So - here are two mini-goals for this week:

1. Write a minimum of 200 words each day (I think this post satisfies that for today)

2. Work at least one hour on another, non-writing project

Hopefully by next Friday, I'll have some progress to report! And maybe some of you will have some words of advice. How do you organize your "creative urges"?