The Clutter in my Dining Room last April when my Kitchen was being remodeled

The last year has been intense. I’ve contracted, edited and published three novels. I’ve learned various marketing approaches with the first two releases and I’m devising a new approach for the third. I’ve also collected a variety of cobwebs. What does this mean? I’ve let myself and my house GO. Chaos reigns in my mind at the moment as a result of all these cobwebs. Until I get them cleared, the vision that exists on the outer edges of my mind for my new Finger Lakes series will not come to me fully. What I have so far has me jazzed and I really want to bring it all to fruition for my readers. Here are the hard facts of what being published in the past year has done to me:

• Rough average pounds per book gained by this stress eater: 5
• Energy level: Low, with inconsistent bursts followed by a hard crash
• Amount of clutter collected in my house: Impossible to measure

Admitting to all this is a hard pill to swallow. Since I know myself as a person and a writer, I have a plan to fix this.

Step one: Clean Out the Physical Cobwebs

Next week…hopefully Monday because aren’t these things always best started on a Monday…I’m going to start a 24 day challenge that begins with a 10 day cleanse. Not only am I gunning for weight loss, but I’m looking to reclaim my former energy levels. I’m going to keep a daily journal in the hope that this might evolve into something worth blogging about. Announcing my intentions here gives me the motivation and accountability to keep myself honest. I know of a few people who have done this particular cleanse and they assure me I’m not going to spend the 10 days sick in the bathroom. Nuff said. Moving on.

Step two: Get My House Back!

I’ve started doing this in the past few days. I’ve been on deadline for what feels like all year and not just with my writing. When you work full time and have a relatively demanding family life (see the photo of what my dining room looked like a year ago when our kitchen was being renovated), meeting deadlines for me meant getting up at 5 am nearly every day for a year to get the work done BEFORE going to work. I could see the clutter piling up in the house, but I would walk right on by and think…It’s okay, I’m on deadline. I started attacking the clutter in the past few days. Slow by slow I’m starting to feel as if I have a handle on it all.

Step Three: WRITE!

Here is the thing about me. When my mental, physical and emotional worlds are not in a good place, I can’t write. I mean, I can PUSH through it. I can force myself to write something like this blog post for example, but I don’t write with a true free expression because I’m thinking about my endless to-do list, and how on earth did I end up looking like a woman who swallowed the former me whole? The other day I was reading through some things and I noticed sections kindle readers highlighted on Amazon from Return to Audubon Springs and Secondhand Romance. I read the sections and thought, wow…I really like that. I wish I could still write like that…And I will, as soon as I clear away all these cobwebs.

I love writing, and I love sharing my stories with readers. It’s been a rewarding experience. The goal for the next book series is to write and publish WITHOUT the cobwebs. It’s going to take discipline and extraordinary time management skills, but I don’t want to end up in all this clutter again.

Wish me luck! Do you have a hard time with creative expression when your “house” isn’t in order?