The Porch Swing Chronicles

As I lay in bed this morning, far later than I should have, even if I am on vacation and I do have a cold, I kept telling myself I was going to get up and write. Right away. I had allowed Christmas preparations to take huge bites out of my writing time, and now it was time to get back on track.

Several hours later, here I sit. I have puttered, tackled laundry, e-mail and my current online game addictions. I have chatted with my family, made lunch, cleaned dishes and checked email yet again, but I haven't gotten to that big project yet.

And so I'm going to share with you a piece of writing along the same lines as the infamous "what I did on my summer vacation" report, only this one won't be in retrospect. Instead, I hope that going public will encourage me be accountable, will give you license to nag me, or at the very least, will serve as a warm-up for those equally enjoyable New Year's resolutions.

So here it is....what I hope to accomplish on my winter vacation:

1. Make a dent in what I hope will be the final revision of my middle grade novel.
2. Organize my writing space: collect my thoughts and corral my papers, and if I'm really lucky, come up with a few new ideas.
3. Play! With my new iPad, with my family, in the snow...whatever presents itself.
4. Read. Grab my Kindle, that stack of magazines beside the sofa, or a good old-fashioned book-whichever suits my mood - and just curl up and soak up the words.

The theme? Recharging. Sure, the revising will be work, but actually sitting down and doing it will be less stressful than continuing to have it hanging over my head.

So far, I'm having a lot of success completing items 3 & 4, but could use a few good nudges to make 1 & 2 a reality. So if you're reading this, feel free to ask me how it's coming, or take a not-s0-considerable risk and tell me to get off Cityville or Farmville and WRITE!

Wish me luck! And enjoy any opportunity that you have to recharge.