Even with a sick child and a Sunday visit to the pediatrician, I managed to get through my pile. As the pile goes, it is more manageable than it was. What that really means is that it is not QUITE as large as it was and is a little lighter to haul around the house. That is not to say that the list that grew out of the pile is going to be any piece of cake!

As I expected, the pile produced a number of tasks for me to complete. Most of them are “work” related, meaning that they have something to do with my writing. Many of them are ideas that need to be fleshed out or materials that I need to create to advertise myself and my work. I admit that, so far, I find that to be the most challenging part of my writing business.

I am an intelligent, educated, funny woman and I happen to be able to write. I spent the early part of my career in a classroom as an educator. The next (and current) phase of my career has been (and is) that of a stay-at-home mother. Hopefully, the next phase of my career will be as a writer. At this point, I am not even very picky about what kind of writer I become. I just want someone to pay me to write something. At no time in my career have I been nor do I wish to be a salesperson!

There are tasks that jumped out of my pile and on to my list that, when completed, seem more like sales and marketing exercises. If I know myself like I think I do, I will work around those things and deal with ALL the other stuff on the list first. I’ll carefully mark each thing off with a fresh, black Sharpie Fine Point marker. I’ll be proud each time I mark through something else. And, then, just at the time that it seems that I will be forced to deal with the salesmanship and marketing of myself, I will see the next pile that I must go through!