lost without lists

I manage my anxiety by making lists. And as a freelancer, having a To Do list helps me structure my days—many of which are wide open right now. There was so much to do around the move but now I’m here, settling in, and there isn’t a lot left…the furniture guy is fixing the two tables that got splattered with paint. I need to mop the kitchen floor. Soon it will be time to do laundry. My hair’s growing out and needs to be cut. My printer has stopped working. These are the mundane things that eat into your day but don’t really give you a sense of purpose. I’ve reached out to a couple of schools here in Lancaster but they just started back on Monday so I’ll wait a few weeks before following up. We have a partial manuscript that seems to be on the brink of a sale; I’m thinking about it a lot but not working on it right now. Once all the back and forth is over, I’ll take a look at my section and map out what I need to do. Phone conference tomorrow morning; axe throwing tonight. In September I often get the back-to-school blues so I want to make sure I don’t have too much time to ruminate. Daydreaming is good, but going over past hurts again and again is not.

My dragons found their way onto another kind of list recently: BookRiot’s Best Chapter Books for Kids: Engaging with Words.

The segment of The Agenda that I taped last spring with host Nam Kiwanuka and literary agent Leonicka Valcius will air this Friday at 8pm. If (like me) you aren’t in Canada, I’ll post the link next week.

I connected with some good folks in Memphis this week. I’m going down next month and then again in November for a couple of kid lit events. If you’re in the area, do drop by! And I’m free on 9/27 if you’re looking to book an author visit or campus talk…