A Productive Day

Some of you must have been praying for my time management!

Yesterday I had a great, productive day.  I worked a full day during fairly normal hours, making myself take an actual break for lunch, and making myself stop at dinner time and take a dinner break before moving on to whatever I felt like doing, since my work day was officially over.  Naturally, having been productive all day, I felt like working some more.  :)  So I did!

So what did I do yesterday?

1. NaNoWriMo, obviously.  I'm almost all caught up on my total word count!

2. Work-related reading.  (It's not my fault if it's also enjoyable...)  I'm doing some editing with Ashberry Lane Publishing,* a local Christian small press.  I'm reading through the first three books in the Thistle Series by Dianne Price, so I can help edit book #4.  I've really enjoyed the reading.  It's set mainly in Scotland during WWII, in the Hebrides Islands, and the characters' dialogue is all spelled accordingly - it's smooth reading, because the author eases into the spelling, and it gives you a great sense of the accent.

3. Correspondence.  I didn't get it all done, but I did write to my sponsored kids.  I sponsor kids with Compassion International, a wonderful program that really emphasize letter writing, which is so fantastic.  Over time, you really start to get to know the kids, and it's a wonderful way to speak love and encouragement and God's Word into their lives.  A couple of my kids have birthdays coming up, so I sent them cards, and I wrote Christmas cards for all of them.  I'm a bit late this year, so they probably won't get them until after Christmas, but better late than never.  :)  I also included a small watercolor painting (on paper)** that I got at the Made in Oregon store for each of them.  I love those kids.  :)

4. Getting organized.  I created a calendar for each month from now to next December on my computer, and plugged in important dates and so forth.  I created deadlines for myself for finishing my poetry book and put those on the calendars, as well.  I'll add more of those self-created deadlines later.  I also created a daily work schedule for myself.^  My plan was to start it Monday, but I kept pretty close to it today.  It is so satisfying to finally be organized.

5.  What else?  I checked my emails, naturally.  Did some paperwork.  Made a couple of lists.  Advertised my editing services a bit.  Made an appointment with an academic adviser for school.  Did a couple of military-related surveys.  Worked a little on organizing my books.  Um... That might be all!

All in all, a good day's work, I'd say.  :)



*You may want to sign up for their newsletter - it's fun to read, and they'll be doing some holiday giveaways soon.

**If you're a Compassion sponsor thinking about sending your child a gift with your next letter, be sure to check the restrictions in advance.

^Obviously, this will have to be adjusted come January when I start classes.  But still.