Yesterday, for the first time in a month, I was able to get in my car and go drive someplace on my own. Of course, when I first got in my car it wouldn’t start. Eventually, after about the third try, it finally did. So I took it for a bit of a spin, to make sure that it got all the way warmed up before I headed to the library.

Because I’m me, and this was the first day I felt really quite good, I worked too hard, as is to be expected. Or rather, I focused too long, without taking any breaks. Came back home after 3+ hours pretty wiped out.

I did spend the rest of the night sitting on the couch with a purring kitty, reading and recovering.

Fortunately this morning, I’m still feeling pretty good. There will be WORDS later, which I’m kind of excited about. Haven’t committed fiction in a long time.

I’m back in the tiny house this morning. While I missed my husband, and I missed my kitty, I also really missed the tiny house. I love the peace I have here. I love having my own space. Even if the view is still slightly depressing because there’s still SO MUCH SNOW, it’s still pretty. And I just fed the birds (they emptied the feeder last night) so I have my birds to watch as well. (I currently have about half a dozen Juncos around the base of a feeder, and a chickadee in the feeder itself.)

Though I’ve been having normalish weeks, there haven’t been that many of them. I finally feel as though this week will be mostly normal. I can drive myself places, like to the library this afternoon to do more work on the internets.

I’ve also been getting back to the productivity planner, which is good. I tend to do what is right in front of me, instead of stepping back and prioritizing what comes first. Without the planner, I still do a lot, but it isn’t as satisfying, because I’m not doing the most important things first.

I am still very much figuring all this out, how to focus on the important things. When I started feeling completely overwhelmed yesterday by the number of things on my to do list, I looked at each item and figured out which items had actual, real deadlines and which did not.

The ones that have real deadlines, that is, other people are dependent on my getting something finished, are the most important. Yes, I have all these other things to do. Guess what? Not as important.

And the publishing schedule is always written in pencil. Though I am currently planning on getting the first of the Troll Wars trilogy published in April, guess what? That’s the first thing that will get pushed out if I can’t get all these other things finished.

Focus. Breathe.

I need to remind myself that I can do the most important things in a timely manner, by the various deadlines. And everything else doesn’t matter.

So what are you focused on today? Where are you directing your attention?