When I worked in a corporate environment, I was known for my organization skills.  I kept so many balls in the air simultaneously that I attracted recruiters from Cirque du Soleil.  And, while doing this, I got up at five every morning in order to write.  I wrote the first draft of Beg for Mercy in less than five weeks while keeping up a grueling work schedule.

So why, now that I no longer have a day job, do I have a hard time keeping up with my laundry?

I’m not the only full-time writer who has experienced this syndrome.  The theory seems to be that working around the day-job imposes structure and forces the writer to create and adhere to a schedule. 

The one thing I’ve more or less stuck to is Marketing Monday.  That means that one day a week, I don’t write.  Instead, I make all the phone calls and do the promo work associated with my career.  I enter contests and send copies of books to members of the press.  I fill out registration forms for conferences and do workshop proposals.   

And, as a former business analyst, I can’t do anything unless I start out by making a list.  I was sick last Monday, so today’s list is FORMIDABLE.  It was terrifying me.  Then I remembered one of my best-loved old corporate tools, the Bubble Chart.  It’s what you do when you have a long list and everything on it seems urgent.  Proper use of the form causes the most important items to “bubble” to the top.  Once the items are ordered, you just start on item number one and don’t go on to two until one is either finished, or you hit an insurmountable obstacle, such as needing to receive a call back in order to continue.

Tarot enthusiasts will be amused to know I drew this card today. Hmmm...

On my list of seventeen urgent items, what bubbled to the top?

“Write a Blog Entry.”

Ahhhhh.