Here I Admit to Sucking. Bad.

My short term goal for the week was to finish the three short stories I'd already begun. By the very title, you may have guessed that I did not actually accomplish this small goal. Let me run through a few excuses. Little Girl had both last Friday and this Monday off school, making this week feel off. Tuesday I started my usual Monday stuff.

I have added pages to one of my three shorts, but no ending. Instead I went online to see if there were writing books specifically created to talk about endings. I didn't find any, which is sad. It would have felt less like a waste of time if I'd found and ordered one -- then waited for it to come in and read it then started writing again with all that new knowledge bouncing around in my brain.

And then there's the excuse that I will need to actually make some changes to fix (the first excuse is an oddity of January and simply needs me to work more)...

Last year, I had a little laptop table that I pulled up to recliner, where I would sit, back to the wall, facing my laptop and the rest of the living room so I could easily switch back and forth between writing and checking on the children. (Child while Little Girl is in school). But I started having a lot of pain in my hand, wrist and all the way up to my elbow, primarily on the right side.

Guessing that it was due to a severe lack of ergonomics in my writing position, I struggled and cleaned and found a place in the living room for a small desk and chair so I could sit there in a more ergonomic position. Unfortunately the place I could find for the desk was against the wall near the corner. Now when I sit there, Little Boy moves to play directly behind me giving me the feeling of being trapped, crowded, and unable to move without tripping over him.

I don't know why they'll play across the living room and in and out of their bedrooms when I'm facing out, but have to play within inches of me when I'm facing the wall. What I am sure of is that I cannot think while he is driving small trucks into the back of my chair. Instead, I check rss feeds, play on Facebook, or online. Because these things don't require a brain, thought, or concentration.

On the good side, I have finally analyzed the situation and figured out the problem -- or the part of the problem that is outside the question of my lack of discipline -- and knowing the problem, I can now begin to search for a solution.

I'm not sure what it will be right now. I can't put my desk in the center of the room, I can't go back to writing in my chair, and I do not want to try moving out of the main room (the children would just follow me and then I'd have to deal with all of us stuffed into a different small area).

What I need is a giant basement like my northern friends have. I could set up a workspace and leave the rest of it coated in toys without having to worry about making it presentable for company. Unfortunately, we're not likely to move any time soon, so I'll probably spend today wondering the house to see if I can think of some way to rearrange our existing furniture to solve the problem and next week, I'll have the same small short-term goal. These three stories, finished and submitted.

How are your goals going?