Yesterday was a perfect, quiet day. I got my workout in early and did some house chores. After that I was still not feeling the school vibe, despite impending doom. I really should come to terms that I don’t have to be “in the mood”, to work on what is supposed to be homework.

I remember last semester when I had time to spare and I would wash my car or clean out the refrigerator. I got so many random things done while procrastinating my reading. Once I finally get into it though, I’m all in. That’s what happened yesterday.

On a side note, for my own sake, one of the things I decided to do was spontaneously go to a blood drive I got an email about in the morning. It was 1pm and though I swore I was going to take a break from that for a while, I was sort of curious about my iron level. That and they keep spamming my email about “critical” need. It’s one way to stop the emails (if I actually donate). Miracle of miracles my iron was 12.6 without supliments!! Wow!! 😮 👍🏻 So I was able to donate. Yes!! 💉🏥🅾️➕❤️

There’s just something so satisfying about contributing to help people. I’ve never been one to volunteer my time, but this sort of thing doesn’t take much time at all. I think I’ve said it before, but I also dig getting the emails telling me where my blood went. That makes it real. Anyway, it wasn’t till I got home from doing that that I started in on school. As with most things, I have a process.

Step 1. I type in all the hand written things into dated notes in Evernote. Sometimes this leads to spontaneous editing and I end up with a good starter. I probably had two or three yesterday. This gets me in the mood and wets my appetite for more.

Step 2. I get out any recently workshopped or submitted poems that have comments on them from my mentor. This time it was the four poems I took to residency. I start revising based on the comments and other things I’ve been learning/working on from my study plan. This was also a success yesterday and I feel like I came away with 3 poems that were tons better than what I started with. That’s the value of feedback. Other people see what you don’t.

Step 3. Pause and see if there is something new brewing in the brain. You can bet that revisiting certain topics is often inspirational.

Step 4. Pick up a book and start reading. This is the one thing that is always a challenge for me but is also one of the most satisfying once I’m down deep in the weeds. All that I read last semester was so interesting and valuable. It never ceases to amaze me how just reading a small bit always inspires me to write something.

Step 5. Put the book down and write that thing that is begging to be written.

Rinse, repeat.

Yesterday I got in the zone and was working on step 2 all afternoon and Into the evening. It felt awesome. I never really got past that step. That’s ok. I can pick up today where I left off last night when 10pm hit and i could barely keep my eyes open.

The truth is, I need to keep going. I’ve got lots of work Work to get started on today but I also really need to stay on the school train and keep the momentum I’ve found. We’ll see how this shakes out. No time like right now.

Peace,

~Miss SugarCookie