I can do this.

"Every little thing's gonna be alright."        - - Bob Marley

I'm in the process of writing a book.  It's not going to be the next "Great American Novel," although I'd love to write one.  It's a non-fiction book about how to use creativity to improve your life.  I'm not writing alone, I'm working with my wonderful (and very creative) business partner Hobby.  Both of us have other jobs, I'm a teacher, she's a graphic designer and we're often frustrated about the lack of time we have to work on our project.  Today was the first official day of summer break and I had big plans. I was going to finish editing pages.  But. . . .

The day started off early with a 4:30 am "butt dial" from my insomniac sister.  So I got up and piddled away a couple of hours on emails and social media.  I got in my car to drive to the park for my run only to get stuck in commuter traffic.  After completing my run, driving home, showering, and eating it was almost noon!  Where did the morning go?  Looking back I can see I was using procrastination as a self defense strategy.

I opened my computer and was ready to dig in when I realized Hobby and I weren't working from the same copy of the book.  Ugh!  She'd done an amazing amount of work on the layout, but I hadn't given her the latest version of the text!  Being a relative computer knuckle head I still have trouble understanding where and how I'm saving and sharing files.  But my ever patient partner says "don't worry, it's easy to fix."  She's on vacation this week and I refuse to let her come back to unfinished pages.  Her job now is to work on illustrations.

"Listen"                     9 x 12                      Ink on paper

Like many people I sometimes let negative self talk derail me.  I lose sight of my goals and become mired in my own shortcomings and limitations.  But it's time to STOP!! So I typed, cried, struggled and eventually, started winning.  I lost track of time and soon the clock showed 5:00 pm, my self imposed quitting time.  I am tired but proud. I perservered. I started figuring some of the computer things out.  I can do this.  I just have to listen to my own advice.

I didn't finish editing all of the pages, but I made a good sized dent in the project.  I no longer feel like I can't do it and I don't feel paralyzed by doubt.  Procrastination will not distract me anymore.

Tomorrow . . . I'll finish the editing.  I CAN DO THIS!