My Catch-up-on-life Checklist by Alison Henderson

Can you hear those faint cries of joy? That's me. Yesterday I finished my second round of self-edits and sent UNDERCOVER NANNY off to my editor, our own esteemed, and very talented, Jannine Gallant. I should be relaxing and celebrating, but instead I'm working on my mid-edit to-do list--the things I need to accomplish before the manuscript returns and I have to dive back in. As my grandmother used to say, no rest for the weary (or wicked, depending on her mood.)

At the start of November, after almost of year of miserable existential angst, I decided I truly wanted to finish this book. I could never do NaNoWriMo, but a friend invited me to join her NaNoPretendo group on Facebook. A small group of writers vowed to do what we could and keep in touch. That's all. At the beginning of the month, I stated my goal to write every day with an eye on 500 words. No guilt or recriminations if I didn't make it, but I wanted to try to get back into the feel of regular writing. I started the month at 38K words and ended at 50K.

At that point, I knew I could make it to the end, so I set another goal--to finish the first draft by the beginning of March and send the manuscript to my editor by April 1st. The plan is to publish the book sometime in mid-late May. I'm happy to say I made it! However, in the final push I let a lot of things slide. So, here's my catch-up-on-life list for the next couple of weeks:

1. Clean my house. It's getting desperate.
2. Weed the yard. Also desperate.
3. Scrub the soap scum off the tile in the shower. A 2-day chore. It's 5' x 8' and tiled to the ceiling on three sides.
4. Make two fairy gardens for the Garden Club silent auction the first weekend in May.
5. Get an oil change in my car. I refuse to admit how long it's been.
6. Have the trees trimmed. The olive looks like Medusa.
7. Have the septic tank pumped. Fun, fun, fun!

      And if there's time:

1. Get outside. 
2. Take walks.
3. Take pictures.
4. Breathe.

Alison

www.alisonhenderson.com