Well, here I am, back again.

I have been pondering why I am so disorganized. I didn't use to be this way. I have concluded that my failings are due to others' expectations or lack there of.

Throughout my career, others have always expected me to lead the way... to voice my opinions, right or wrong... to do things my way. While my husband was living, he had many of the same expectations. I was the one who filled the car with gas, who made the doctors' appointments, who planned our family vacations.

Now that I am only three months from retirement, the expectations at work have eased, I am allowed to slow down and do things at a pace with no urgency. And, since I now have no one left to care for at home, I have slacked off there as well.

It is time for me to discipline myself to stay focused even if no one else expects me to. So how do I plan to do this? One step at a time.

There is a website, http://flylady.net, that is designed to help people like me put one foot in front of the other, develop routines, and have time to pursue things of interest, time that has previously been wasted by living a disorganized lifestyle. So, if there are others of you who feel harried by disorganization, visit this website and learn for yourself to make little changes that can make a big improvement in your life.

Live long and prosper!

Greetings,

I have been among the missing, but I am back now. I must say the reason I have not been blogging is because I have been reading.

I made the error of purchasing a Kindle a while ago. Now the reason purchasing a Kindle was a mistake is because it is much too easy to get new books to read. For whatever reason, I find reading even easier on a Kindle, perhaps because I can enlarge the type face. When I finish a book – I just finished reading Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, great book by the way – I order the next thing I want to read. I have started reading the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. So when I finished reading The Lost Symbol I downloaded and read High Five. Much as I enjoy reading, I must rein myself in, or I will never get any writing done. My Kindle has become an addiction.

The Tri-Valley Writers Branch, California Writers Club, began the new 2009-2010 season today with luncheon at The Oasis in Pleasanton. Good food, good company, and an excellent presentation on utilizing social media to expand your horizons. The presenters were Lynn Hazen and Susan Taylor Brown. Should you ever have the opportunity to hear either of them speak, don’t pass it up. They both are entertaining, articulate, and excellent sources of information. Visit their websites at www.lynnhazen.com and www.susantaylorbrown.com to learn more about what they have to offer.

When I spend time with other writers, as I did today, I am motivated to get back to the keyboard and work. I am still working on Letters to Ethan. I know I will not be able to finish writing the first draft until after I retire. But I can’t afford to put it on the back burner until December. So I will keep plugging away and perhaps be able to finish the draft early in January 2010.

I am setting a goal for myself to post on this blog at least once a week. Let’s see how well I do.

Live long and prosper.