Like many people who work in my industry, I have time off periodically–between semesters, some summer break time. Usually, I begin those times with big plans: redecorate the bedroom, write x number of poems, send out x number of manuscripts. And, usually, I end up starting the project at hand with the typical zeal. But sleep’s siren call begins to work itself into my head; mornings begin later and later. Evening social hour beckons, too, and since tomorrow isn’t a school day, well, why not? Some mornings don’t start until afternoon. And, sure enough, when the break’s end creeps up, and it’s time to go back to work, my big plans have not quiiiiiiiiite materialized. That’s the pattern. But not this time. This time, I began filling my dance card early, and set concrete goals for the summer break. Here’s the list:
- Saturday job. (Non-negotiable)
- Publish web site, with blog element.
- Write blog, as regularly as possible.
- Buy one-month gym membership, gauge my own dedication. Go at least a dozen times.
- Join kickball team, play six-week league. Yeah, that’s right, kickball.
- Begin Sketchbook Project, make plan, start filling in the book! Post a little product on the blog, discuss.
- Read ten books, non-school-related, mostly new-ish novels.
So that was the initial list. I had about seven weeks to accomplish all this, and I knew going in that some things would overlap the beginning of school (Saturday job is one, probably kickball, too). I am now in Week 4 of the break, and find that I need a progress check. Here’s where I am:
- Saturday job, check. Haven’t missed any days due to weather (or anything else), although some days have been downright paltry in terms of cash.
- Web site published, check.
- Blogging…hmmm…it’s not as easy as I thought it would be. More about that later. Suffice to say, to date, 16 posts. 17, counting this one. Not exactly lighting the blog world on fire yet.
- Joined the gym, check! Have gone 10 times and have six days remaining in paid month.
- Kickball, sigh, check. It’s not as much fun as I thought it would be, mostly since we mostly lose. And, I am not good at it. Sure, practice would help, but I usually avoid doing things I’m bad at, ‘cuz I’m kind of a sore loser. True confession. I’m still holding out hope for the rest of the kickball season, though, since we did play much better this week than the first week, and I am also basically a hopeless hoper.
- Sketchbook project, begun but not as far advanced as I would like. More about that in another post, hopefully with an image!
- Books: I’ve completed three and am about a third of the way into the fourth. Not a very impressive start, by any account. By a stretch, my favorite of the first three is My Name is Mary Sutter, by my VC classmate Robin Oliveira. It’s a lovely piece of work, and I hope to post my comments on it within the next few days. It deserves its own essay! I also enjoyed Let the Great World Spin, but did not so much enjoy the new Coetzee work, Summertime. More about those, too, in another post.
On the whole, in terms of evaluation, I’d give myself a C+. For me, certainly, this list of (ongoing) accomplishments is above the average. But I would bet that for most people, it’s just average. Nothing to write home about. Here’s what I’ve learned, though. Balance is important, whether it’s balancing time at the gym between spin class (excruciatingly hard for me) and yoga class (a quieter challenge) or balancing the days I sleep late because I need the rest with the days my greater need is to get stuff done.
