Tag: Planning

Posted on by Fern Brady - No Comments on Holiday Time!

Holiday Time!

Well, we finally are on holiday. I rather like the school calendar CyFair has more than the one we used in Alief. We let out for the winter break on Thursday but we don’t return to work until Monday, January 8th. It’s nice having those days post New Year’s to get things done rather than extra days during the hectic pre-Christmas time.

I have to say I was very proud of my students this past week. Many classes were acting up and being squirely but not my kids. They were focused on finalizing work and finishing our sports book club. We had a lovely day on Thursday as we completed an art project and did some writing while listening to music and enjoying snacks.

The one bad thing about the calendar is that we don’t get a day of work before the kids arrive. January 8 is the first day back for everyone. So there’s no time to be in our rooms and prepare. The school will be open on Friday January 5th and I will go early and do a morning of cleaning out the old and being ready for the new.

For now, it is time to clear the mind of that part of my life and focus on other things. During the holidays, I will need to reorganize my work study at home. We had the carpets cleaned and so everything is just topsy-turvy in there. It will be good to go through my files and purge and organize again.

Plus, now that I have a better handle on the time I need for school work, I can plan the time allotments for Inklings, Houston Writers Guild, and my own writing time much more realistically. It has been hit or miss with that this semester and it has added stress as I toggle from one thing to another in a disjointed manner. I hope to start 2024 with a more streamlined agenda — you guys remember my post about how I do my time allotments, right?

Right now, as I write this I am enjoying some quiet holiday rest. The house is set for Christmas and it is Christmas Eve. We are hosting at our home. And, starting yesterday, we are on a Terminator Saga binge watch. Seems appropriate to choose that series this year…

This will be our final blog post for the year. Ellen, Rachel and I will be back the first week in January. Hope everyone’s holidays are full of love and laughter. See you in 2024!

Posted on by Melanie Ormand - No Comments on A Mindset for the Road

A Mindset for the Road

We launched this blog last May, shortly before a three-state drive to attend a Colorado writing retreat.

Nine months later, I’m birthing something new. It’s a merger of sorts, combining what I learned last spring with what I know this winter. Call it a RoadBroad’s 2019 approach to living and writing.

It comes courtesy of my writing friend, Danielle, who shared a version of this “Comfort Zone” graphic on Facebook. The image grabbed my attention so fast, my neck nearly snapped. My mind thought aha!, and off to the Internet rabbit hole I vanished where I found the same image, topped with the creativity quote:

Image copyright: TWH (The Wealth Hike); Quote copyright, Dan Stevens. 

It’s so timely, post-New Year (either 1/1 or 2/5). There’s 45 weeks left in 2019.

Take a look at the graphic. Where do see yourself here as a woman? As a writer? 

Some days, I stretch across all four zones.

Today, I stretch across Learning and Growth. It’s blog post day.

Tomorrow, I’ll perch in Fear, courtesy of an upcoming public speaking event.

Who knows what Wednesday and Thursday will bring? I suspect Comfort Zone therapy after Tuesday. But by Thursday, Learning and Growth returns, incorporating the week so far.

Learning and Growth involves an awakening, a choice we must make consciously. Comfort Zone and Fear tend to rule by our default.

My goal is to shrink the red circle of Comfort Zone into a smaller dot. It’s home to daily human recovery needs, so elements of it are vital. Healthy eating. Daily exercise. Adequate sleep. Spiritual practice.

Before we are women or writers, we are human beings. Superwoman and her twin, Wonder Woman, checked out of this universe decades ago.

Fear is too much my friend. So that’s why she resides in the orange zone? Moving forward, I’ll honor Fear while keeping a healthy dose married to boundaries and deadlines.

Finally, I focus on where my heart and energy landed when I saw this graphic. Enlarge the yellows and greens of Learning and Growth into ever-widening zones. Purpose-filled days. Achieved dreams. Goals enlarged. Objectives accomplished.

Daily, I’ll massage Dan Stevens’ words: creativity comes from activating intuition, expanding perspectives, and living fearlessly. 

What’s your Zone Plan?

Maybe the graphic offers not your life, but a simple story.

Heroine’s Journey, anyone?