mash up
noun
[mash-uhp]
2. Slang. a creative combination or mixing of content...
Today's mash up of content is brought to you by a week where this writers thoughts and efforts have been other places besides this blog.
Such as...
Organizing myself: Thanks to the insightful and inspirational Deb Smouse, I've been working on getting my Life In General put together in a way that helps me feel less scattered and more purposeful. I've developed a series of lists for each of the activities I've involved in (Daily Living, Work, Writing, Community Theater) which I update each week. (To make it more fun, each master list gets typed on robins egg blue paper and filed in one of these bright folders.) From that list, I prepare an index card for each day of the week and schedule in the things I want/need/plan/wish to accomplish on each day. I sat down for an hour last Sunday night and updated the lists, plus filled out a weeks worth of index cards for initial planning. Also at that time I did my meal planning for the week, and updated the grocery list accordingly. Naturally things happen which upset the most carefully laid plans... but as long as they're on the list, I don't less upset about it than I would have in the past. Deb's advice about list-making was spot on. If something is written down somewhere, I feel better knowing it's "on my list" - it eliminates a good deal of the free-floating anxiety I get when I feel like there's too much going on (and when is this not true?)
Write On Wednesday: You'll notice I have a Writing List in those folders. This week I put a whole bunch of projects on that list. One thing I never lack is writing ideas. They flash in my head all the time, urgent and sometime irritating lightning strikes for essays and articles and blog posts. Lately, it's been ideas for novels...crazy, since my only efforts at novel writing were five and six years ago when I completed NaNoWriMo twice in a row and then filed the "manuscripts" away never to be seen again. My problem is getting around to actually writing this stuff I'm always thinking about. It's the motivation, the stick-to-itiveness that I lack. This weeks Write On Wednesday Epiphany? Since I never seem to have a problem writing my morning pages, I'm going to treat these creative writing ideas like morning pages. Get myself a notebook, and just start writing three pages of something about any one of them. Maybe it'll be drivel, but maybe there will be a few "diamonds in the dustheap" as Virginia Woolf called them.
Books are stacking up around here. Finished books that is. I read 10 books in March, and already have two down for April. What isn't stacking up are the commentaries. Several of these books (With Or Without You, Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots, The New Republic) were accepted as review books, and now that I've read them that obligation must be honored. For the most part they've been interesting reading, but I haven't organized my thoughts about them in a way sufficient to present to the public at large.
Today I'm not planning anything other than a trip into town for lunch, a stop at Great Harvest bread for some Honey Whole Wheat and Cinnamon Swirl, a run through Celebrity Pets for Magic and Molly's favorite chew sticks, and maybe (*wink*) a quick browse in The Next Chapter.
So, how about you? What's the mash-up of your life been this week?