It seems I'm having one of those days. One where my skills at multitasking are failing me at every turn. The microwave popcorn? Burnt. The Christmas cards? Still not sent. The laundry? Don't ask.

And to top it all off, I mailed out a partial manuscript to an agent and realized too late that I had forgotten to write "Requested Materials" on the envelope, which the agent gave clear instructions to do so that it wouldn't get lost in the slush pile. Le sigh.

And even though I spent most of the day offline, I could have sworn that I had done a blog post. About what, I wasn't sure, but I remembered typing something. ;)

So it was kind of shocking to see that I didn't have a post up here for today. Not that the world was in danger due to the lack of it or anything, but it just made me wonder if there was anything else I was supposed to due today that hadn't gotten done.

Gulp.

Well, let's face it, there's always something on the to-do list of life that doesn't get done. For some, it can be as simple as taking a moment to relax. Or paying the phone bill. For others, it could be sending out that query letter or getting up early to squeeze in some writing time. As the owner of many incomplete to-do lists, I know how easy it is to let some things slip.

But things get biz-ay. Priorities change and emergencies (like realizing you have nothing to wear for an upcoming social gathering) happen, but they do for everyone.

It's funny, but when I was working as a project manager (which is so not fun on too many levels) and things entered crisis-mode and decisions had to be made, I'd ask myself: "How important will this be five years from now?"

At first, most things were all-important and had to be taken care of no matter what the cost or man-hours involved. But after a few years of spinning around, jumping through hoops of fire and attempting to control the universe, I realized that most of it didn't really matter.

I mean, sure, at the time it mattered, but was it important enough for me to lose sleep over? To give up my time with the DH? To get others to burn the midnight oil with me?

Today, I say no. And that's probably because I've learned that I can't operate that way anymore. Of course there will be times when I run late on something and stay up until the wee hours to get it done, but now it's on my terms.

And that's something I can live with.

So sure, I may forget some things because I don't have a personal assistant or a project-management flowchart set up to orchestrate my every move, but I have the freedom to learn from my mistakes without being afraid of losing my job.

It's one of the joys of being self-employed. And some days I even like my boss. ;)

So if you'll excuse me, there's a submission package I have to prepare again...

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