I get asked all the time, “How do you do it all?” I am a
full-time librarian, committee chair for the Texas Library Association, owner
of several small businesses (the Boot Camp and Sleeping Panther Press),
volunteer, and writer. Um…I don’t do any of it well. My brain is scattered. I
am thinking of so many different things at one time that I can’t remember where
I was on a project if I’m interrupted. I never really have any downtime because
I am constantly thinking about what I could be doing instead, along with
getting up and working on something around my house, if I happen to be home. It
is so overwhelming.
One of my promises that I made to myself at the beginning of
this year was that I would slow down. I would streamline so much of what I do
so that I will have more time to actually relax. It helps that I have the
wonderful opportunity to move my writing sessions and critique groups to TheLast Word Bookstore. I am no longer saddled down with an office or expensive
rent to keep up with. That will also free me up to work on possible online
classes. I think this is the exact opposite of what most people do- online
classes to in person workshops. I think that is the direction I’m moving
towards.
Yesterday I officially resigned from my Texas Library
Association committee chairwomanship with the President-Elect. My term will end
following the 2017 Conference. This is a great relief for me. I am still going
to push for my district to participate, but I no longer want the months’ long
dedication and worry this position was creating right in the middle of
everything else I have coming due, including submissions for Panther City
Review 2017.
Speaking of which, JotForm is my new favorite website that I
will be using for Panther City Review 2017. It is integrated with Dropbox and
Stripe (my 3rd party credit card processor), so if it works the way
it says it will, this is the game changer that I’ve been looking for over the
last few months. I’m actually excited about opening up submissions in a few
days. That’s so much better than the dread I was feeling last week. It’s all
ready to go!
This is an exciting time in my life. I do feel like I’m
getting it together, even if I’ve had to cut certain activities out of my life.
I hope that everything really works the way that I hope. I need to be able to
have time to write. That’s really what all of this is supposed to do, right? My
creative energy needs to continue to flow in that direction.