Thinking aloud

Perhaps you are aware that I love lists, especially to-do lists, though I rarely refer to them after they’re written. It’s the act of writing them that helps me arrange things in my mind. Yes, I’ll do this first, and then that, which will take about this long, after which I’ll have just enough time for this other thing. Oh, and I can’t forget that I have to, etc.

So here’s my list for today.

• Write 1,000 words of a new scene for Chapter Seven of my novel Edgewood, accompanied by my third cup of tea for the day.
• Write a short article about space garbage for the SAT tutoring center where I work.
• Prepare some SAT material for teaching tomorrow morning.
• Edit an article about missions for a press where I freelance.
• Lunch, accompanied by an episode of Firefly, perhaps “Out of Gas.”
• Grade students’ in-class writing online and give feedback about their in-progress essay drafts.
• Write PowerPoint presentations/lecture notes for next week, since I will be busy Sunday afternoon when I usually do so.
• Read about half of Children of Dune by Frank Herbert.
• Have a lovely dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with a good friend from graduate school.

Will I get it all done? Probably not. I’ll work on all of it, but I might not finish all the projects completely, particularly those related to grading and lecture prep. The dinner, however, is a sure thing–my reward for working hard!