The LIST

So right now I’m chained to my computer. I can literally feel it chafing against my ankle. It’s either that, or tweaked from running.
 The reason I am stuck here is a little thing called a deadline. As in my Work in Progress needs to be submitted to my editor by Tuesday. I started 2 weeks ago. Sound crazy?

It’s actually someone else’s book that was finished, but needed a whole lot of work. But his life is crazy and he needed some help to meet the deadline set by his publisher- which coincidentally is my publisher. So he asked me to co-author it with him. It needed some voicing fixes, plot fixes, and  brand spanking new ending. I am currently in the middle of said ending.

But while I am plotting of how to get Cynhtia (my character) out of the mess I stuck her in, in the back of my mind is the LIST.

There seems to be so much to do and not enough time to do it.  I need to meet my deadline, but I worry that the mountain of laundry might tip over and smother my 2 1/2 yr old. I’ve got three blogs to keep up with. Mormon Mommy Writers and Finished being Fat both have Saturday updates due. The kids are crying to go the park. Oh, and my marathon training says Saturday is a 14 mile day.

And that’s the shortened list. The longer list includes all the things I need to do before the years up. I’m going back to college. My father in law is getting remarried. All the edits and marketing work for the two books coming out in early 2013. The June marathon and 3 other half marathons I signed up for.

By this point in my worrying, I’m having chest pains. The underside of my blanket is starting to look really good.

The point of this post is to remind myself that I can only worry about one thing, one mile, one race, and one chapter at a time. Anything else is counter productive. I need to make a plan, then trust that plan will work as I follow through. I’ll let you know when I manage to stop sweating the details.