My last few blog posts have been about time management. I got started on that topic after reorganizing my office space as the kick off to 2022. Coming out of a pandemic situation, as life seems to be restarting for us, I have begun to re-read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. I was introduced to this resource many years ago and have found its advice truly impactful in my life.
Habit #1 is being proactive.
Thinking about the changes that have occurred in the realm of my small business because of COVID, this has become a crucial part of my life. At first, I was very reactive, and to be honest, somewhat lethargic about the whole thing. All the great selling venues dried up so gone was the bulk of our income. As comic cons and other events start coming back, I have to decide if that is really what I want to do. It is a heavy toll working these events and, while fun and a good revenue source, the physical elements of setting up, breaking down, and being there all day for multiple days is just not something I necessarily want to keep doing.
One proactive step I’ve taken is to enter into a contract with a publicist who will work with my authors. This will provide new avenues for promotion which I hope will translate into sales. Looking at online ways to promote has become a focal point as I try to rebuild revenue with less exhausting methods. Becoming a part of Author Talk and starting The Hot Mess Express is another element to creating avenues to reach new readerships without the physical burdens of shows. Though I have to admit I do love the cosplay part of the events gigs and we will still do several this year.
But the habits are not just about work. I’ve started to analyze what areas of my personal life need a more proactive approach. Lately, I’ve reflected a lot on my need to be proactive in self-discipline, especially in areas that affect my health. Choosing foods wisely and getting more exercise is a must.
I love walking Arya and that certainly has been a great source of exercise, but I am really working to see if I can build in at least a couple days a week of yoga or maybe a Zumba tape as well.
I know I’m not going to do any kind of gym membership because that has never been my thing, probably because I’m so self-conscious about being a chubby girl at the fitness center with all these hot bods around. But at home with my DVDs I can start getting more into the routine of doing a little extra piece of exercise to help get my body more in shape which will help with the diabetes management.
What areas are you all struggling to be proactive in? Would love to hear from you on any of these topics. Until next time…
What else is there to do on a cloudy, windy, cold day in February? When everyone else is thinking about hearts and valentines, my thoughts turn to touring local cemeteries. The older the better, and Houston has some really old ones. Fortunately for me, I am not the only one who enjoys a visit with the dearly departed. My WiVLA sister (That’s the Women in the Visual and Literary Arts for those of you not in the know) and friend, Sabina Gartler is also interested in perambulating amongst the tombstones. This particular picture of Sabina was taken at Founders Memorial Park in downtown Houston. Neither one of us could figure out what was going on with this tree. It was as if it was being eaten from the inside out. Or maybe this is where the local ghosts go inside when it is cold outside. Who’s to say? I don’t judge.
While visiting the Founders Memorial Park, you will find some famous names of those persons who founded this great city. However, I had never heard of the Hogans. Apparently they have some relatives, who are keeping up appearances for their loved ones. I especially like graves with photographs. It appears as if James was a Sheriff at one time. That’s him and his wife in the round photo. After visiting this grave, I almost feel as if I know this family now. I might have to return on major holidays to leave flowers or something. If you want to see what the entire Hogan clan looks like look below:
walking around the grounds of the Elder Street Lofts. It used to be an old city cemetery, but all that is left are these two plots . The building itself, which used to be Jefferson Davis Hospital, is now home to artists and creatives. From the front this building looks like any historic building, but when you walk around the back, that is where the artistic flair begins to really show itself.
For instance, there is this nice blue building painted with skulls and surrounded by pink flamingos. I do not know the purpose of the building, but it looks really neat considering it is across the fence from the City of Houston Fire Department Maintenance Depot. There are random pieces of art scattered about in between different small gardens.
Of course. everyone has heard that the Elder Street Lofts is haunted from all of the graves that are buried under the buildings, depots, and streets. I guess that is why there is this circle of tree stumps. This gives the ghosts a nice place to gather at night and catch up on the day’s news. When the City Cemetery first began way back when, it was located on the outskirts of the city. Now it is just to one side of downtown. I hope the ethereal residents have enjoyed watching all the activity.
Well, now we talk about implementation. The ideal world calendar is a guide, to help you hold space for the things that are needed and those you want to pursue. It labels spaces in wide categories, like work, writing time, cooking, or real estate work, inklings work, or whatever your categories turned out to be. Those hours are reserved for those things. On a daily basis, what actually happens during those time sets can vary.
Each Sunday, I sit with my ideal calendar and I look at my weekly planner. The first thing I do is place the things that will happen and that cannot be moved. Unlike the ideal week, here we add the more specific pieces of what we are doing for that time. So not just I’m working teaching classes at this school, but a notation on the specific lesson and the week in the program to track the progress. Not just, we have a podcast, but the specific guest we will be interviewing, or a general topic we want to at least begin with.
The biggest consequence of course to cutting that is in what the next writing time work will include. Normally, Wednesday is the time I implement revisions from the feedback gained during Tuesday night’s critique session. But doing that on this particular week ended up happening instead during Friday’s writing session. This made Friday a little heavier on the revision side and less time with moving new pieces forward, but how could I say no to lunch with James?
It is that time of year again. Think of hearts and loved ones. And skeletons. I don’t know how you celebrate Valentines Day in your household, but in my home all of the skeletons get together to dress up for the occasion. While the original plan included letting them sit on the balcony and enjoy all of the love vibes in the air, the temperatures have dropped below the chilly range.
In the meantime there is peace and harmony in my household. All skeletons remained decorated in their “love” costumes and are warm by cuddling up in the recliner. Hannah, the cat, would get upset about one of her spots being taken over, but she is too comfy sitting on the nice blanket covering the ottoman. I think that means I get to spread out on the couch.
Once you have these items listed, you can begin to create your utopian itinerary. This is where you set up what your ideal week would look like. Obviously, no week will ever flow so perfectly, but by setting up what the best use of your time looks like you can take more control of it.
So you itemize your itinerary layout by first plugging in for the week the items that are absolutely set in stone. These hours are not going to change and there’s no other use you can make of them. Here’s a picture of what that looks like for me. Note that the teaching sessions as well as my podcast session are set plus my critique groups and shuffleboard times. These don’t change. So they go in first.
Now, you have the spaces where time is yours to allot. This is where you plug in the sessions of things you really want to do. Once you have that on your paper, you can put it cleanly together on a big page so it is all available at a glance. So, here’s what the final itinerary looks like for me.
As 2022 drew near, I decided it was time to rearrange my space. It began with Arya. My little husky and I share a twin bed which is way too small for the two of us. So when I got her a nice cushion for the office area, she decided it was infinitely more comfortable. But she sulked because it wasn’t in the bedroom.
This arrangement opened up the possibility of using the space behind the now permenantly sealed door for other things. My wing of the upstairs in our house has a small walkway area which allows you to either turn to enter the bedroom or go toward the game room area. This is mostly wasted space in homes as there is little you can do with it other than just walk through.
However, I’ve installed some bookcases, and the closing off of the door allowed me to use that space for my curio cabinets. By shifting these out of the office space, the possibility of a new arrangement of the workspace loomed. And so, the first week of 2022 began with the rearrangement of furniture and the organization, finally after two years, of the books on the bookcases.
Of course, about mid way through the process, I regretted having started. I mean, my space was in chaos and completely unusable, my back was hurting, and the enthusiasm with which the project began waned quickly. But, I was also beyond the point of no return. So, I had to continue to plow through.
Because the room is a rectangle, my previous arrangement of two square spaces had the effect of making it feel smaller. By placing the desk in front of the bookcases, it became a much more open space, running as a natural rectangle. It also had a great effect in the view as I come out of the bedroom. Rather than coming out into a very tight space blocked by the desk and work tables, I enter my office into a wide open and inviting sitting area.
After essentially two massive days of hard labor, my new office arrangement was set, and the books organized. The new flow of space works beautifully. I’m very pleased with the improved functionality and feel of the space. It is a fresh start for the year, one that provides more organization and a beautiful space to sit and reflect.
Happy New Year all you dear readers! With Covid still at the top of all news cycles, I actually do have some good news to begin with for my first blog of 2022. You may remember that at the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020, I had a piece of collage art work that was accepted for exhibition at Rice University. I was thrilled. I was delighted. When everything shut down, I was devastated, disappointed, and forlorn. There was a virtual reception of the art, but there was no public showing.
What’s the rush you ask? This premature display of hearts and flowers is all ready beginning to crop up. It’s just as if Cupid was hiding behind Santa’s sleigh holding on to his bow and arrow just waiting to jump out and start working his love magic. Good grief. By the time Valentine’s Day actually gets here, I am going to be quite sick of all the red and pink decorations. At least I haven’t seen any goofy decorations popping up in my neighborhood.
Contemplating this conundrum and planning my future meeting, I went to the Arboretum to receive some solace from nature; including trees, squirrels, and turtles. I found that solace, but also found a path where apparently the armadillos had enjoyed a dance party the night before. Obviously they hide out during the day to rest up after all of their raucous partying.
Not that any of the drivers needed urging. Blowing horns is the constant chatter of conversation among Indian drivers. Some drivers favor the short, continuous toot, others prefer the long uninterrupted blast. Together, the cacophony resembles an especially discordant orchestra warm-up session. And if there are no other vehicles on the road? Your driver will blow the horn to break the silence.
You need a car and driver for longer distances. But for efficiency, you can’t beat the tuk-tuks. They’re designed for a driver and two, maybe three, passengers, and seem to be the favored transport of sari-wrapped women and small families. 
Have I mentioned the motorcycles?
These past two years, since my divorce, I was able to convince the family to let me decorate the tree with a color palette base of silver and white with one other color for effect. And the trees have looked amazing! Last year, we went with red as the focal color, and this year’s tree we did in blue. Blue always felt more Christmas for me since winter feels like a blue color for some reason to me.
is seeing various types of Christmas tree decorations pop up on my social media feeds. I love thematic tress, probably a remnant from my years as a teacher. Trees with dessert themes are too cute, and there’s even a Darth Vader tree that I totally thought would be fun to do. I really considered doing something like that, but it requires a strategic search and purchase of thematic ornaments, so I will need to wait on that idea.
Just in case you ever wondered if I have any skeletons in my closet, you now have proof. Here is Skellington hanging out in the back of my closet (and he’s not the only one). Actually he has decided to hang out back there until all the commotion is over. Yes, normally he takes part in all of the commotion that goes on in my life, but he is going to sit this one out for the next couple of weeks.
Now, don’t worry, I am having professionals install the carpeting. They will move large furniture, but all items must be emptied out by yours truly. That means that the carpet layers will move the bookshelves, but I have to remove all of the books in the bookshelves. As you can guess, I have more than one book case.
public library. That’s right. I donated 300 books and I still have plenty to fill the shelves back up when this is all over. Do not judge me. Some people buy crack. I buy books. The kind you can hold in your hands and feel the paper. None of that wimpy eBook nonsense.