Monthly Musings – Task-Oriented, Extreme Introvert

Hello team,

Merry Christmas!

… And Happy New Year!

Not only is this a blessed and glorious time of the year to celebrate the birth of our Lord, for those of us who have been blessed with holidays, it is even more reason to rejoice.

I had intended to get this email out at the end of November….

Then before Christmas…

And now hopefully before the new year?

There is still time for me to be on time for this updated schedule

Life’s been a bit like that lately (the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray—as the saying goes). It has been a time of fighting to discern appropriate priorities. As a task-oriented, extreme introvert, living with ADHD, I’ve been thrashing about like a bee in a freshly laid spiders web. The more I race around trying to complete tasks, focusing on what “has” to be done, the more I turn myself into a sticky, bound burrito.

The deadlines I have been striving towards have been and gone… unmet, the exploding to-do list erupted, and the goals set have raced by like mileposts outside a speeding car. However, I can declare (with rye smile and sleepy eyes) all my family are well and fed (legal obligations met for the win!)

Currently, all my excuses have been lodged and inevitably accepted (since I work—mostly—for myself, I am in the privileged position of being the board, the complaints department, and the CEO) and I am now, in a resigned and calmer mindset, plodding on whilst reflecting on the wisdom (or lack thereof) of stacking November to the hilt, then trying to mop up the overflow in a full December. At times I was confident the only thing holding me upright was all the equal and opposite tensions coming at every side. It was, however, a wonderful opportunity to practice prayer… prayer without ceasing. And to witness the continual faithfulness of God.

Currently looking down a clearer barrel, I am confident THIS time, I will… possibly? do things differently. The waves are still rocking the boat (see last newsletter) but Jesus is still riding this roller coaster with me. I aim to, during this coming year, do better at relinquishing my hold of the rudder. #alwaysroomforimprovement.

In other news

The Cover for Liberating Persecution is done! Settling on a name was a big roadblock.
I ran a poetry workshop on November 30 for ten adults and I will be running two consecutive poetry workshops for primary school children in mid January
The Somerset Writers Group had our 1 day Writing Retreat
Book 5 of the Armour of Light Series: Liberating Persecution, is with the distributer waiting for approval. Once I have gone through the proof copy (it’s not been approved yet), and if it ticks all the boxes, I will publish early January.
My WriTri (Writing Trimester – Writing goal of 90 000 between Nov 1 and Jan 31) creating the messy first draft of Book 6 (Set in Thyatira) has started on the right (wobbly) foot: Week 8 has begun and I am currently at 64 117 words (My end goal is 90000 words). I am still on target, but with 42 000 words written in November and only 42 000 written in December, January needs to be more focused.
We went to Cairns for a week to celebrate our eldest son’s graduation and a bit of a belated 18th birthday celebration

Enough about me, how has your November/December arranged itself?
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