The dust hasn’t even had a chance to settle on my list of goals for January and they’re already out the window. At least for the next five days. Why, you ask? Because the Playground’s resident therapist is coming to town! She lives in Louisiana and I live in Alabama, so while I talk to her on the phone twice a week, we don’t get to see each other all that often. Don’t tell my CP, but that chapter she’s expecting doesn’t look like it’s gonna get finished this week after all.
Shelley and I go waaaaay back. Back more years than I’m willing to admit, but we were freshmen in high school when the fun began. (If my mom is reading this, she just spewed her drink all over the keyboard at the word “fun.” Hey, it was fun for us. Sorry, Mom.) At this point, we have no choice but to remain friends, because we have too much dirt on each other to be enemies. We mastered teen-age angst, lived through some really bad fashion decisions, did some unbelievably stupid stuff in our college years, and are now upstanding members of society. Who’d of thunk it?
So, the next five days will be all about us. There will be manicures, some homemade facials, discussions over the current color of my hair, and much junk-food eating. There’ll be therapy of the retail kind and commiserations over the craziness of our respective families. Shelley will spoil my child with gifts, and I’ll go over the proper usage of a semicolon with her (again!). Then she’ll have to go home, and it’ll be six months before I get to see her again.
So, my goals for this week are toast. I might as well just pack up the laptop now, ‘cause I’m not going to get anything done on my WIP. But I don’t feel the least bit guilty about it. Writing is important to me, but no book is more important than the people I love. If being behind on my page goal for this month is the price I have to pay to spend time with my best friend, then so be it.
Goals, resolutions, schedules—we’re always told how important it is for writers (especially newbie writers) to make them and stick to them like glue if we ever hope to hit that dream of being published. I think the trick is knowing when to stick to the resolution and when to let the schedule slide. Weeding the flower beds? Nah, I really need to get my page goal done today. Cleaning house? As long as Child Services doesn’t threaten to take AC away, I figure it’s clean enough. I’ve got a synopsis to write.
The time to enjoy the people I love? Sorry, but the book will have to wait. Shelley, AC and I are going to do crafts and paint our toenails instead. I’ll take people over pages any day.
I hope I never get so caught up in the drive to be published that I forget that.
2 comments:
People... People who need people... Are the luuuuuuuuuckiest people in the world.
Pardon my warbling. *g*
I'll just have to say a hearty "Amen!" to your post.
Agreed. Girlfriend time is especially important. When me and my college girlfriends get together - once every 2 years or so as they live on the other side fo the US - we usually have a girly fest. There are toes to paint, shoes to buy, movies to cry at and gossip to share. Good stuff. Theraputic. And given the WIP you're supposed to be working on, I think you could even call it research.
SP
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