Behind on Things

It's the end of the year, which means it's time for me to mournfully contemplate my to-do list and the many unfinished items on it. As I sit writing this (on the evening of Christmas Eve, though I'm not planning to post it until next Monday), that list includes:

Write my Christmas newsletter
Send presents to people
Do Christmas-y cooking (e.g., shortbread, candied pecans, baklava)
Visit people and take them stuff (see previous bullet)
Help clean and organize the house for a wheelchair-bound relative to stay with us for six months (This could be a whole list in itself.)
Write a business proposal
Complete a parent involvement workshop on bullying
Research and write a parent involvement workshop on Internet safety
Review a novel manuscript
Line up contributors for the AML (Association for Mormon Letters) blog
Write several blogs for posting at various locations
Help my daughter with a high school research paper
Read A Merchant of Venice with my wife and daughter (also for my daughter's English class)
Attempt contact with several people who show up on our local Church records but whom no one has seen in years
Start on editing/reviewing someone else's nonfiction manuscript
Make progress on my own fiction writing

All of which I feel an obligation to do, or at least make substantial progress on, over the next 2 weeks. It all seems pretty unlikely — especially since I'm so easily distractible by many things not appearing on this list.

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One happy thing that I finally accomplished (a year after I took it on — ouch!) was writing a review for Adventures of the Soul, a collection of personal essays previously published by BYU Studies. It's a lovely book, and I deeply wish that I had managed to get the review out in time for people to order copies for Christmas. Instead, the book disappeared in my stacks for a month back in November. Still, the review is done now and posted over at A Motley Vision blog. I hope it will bring at least a little attention for a most deserving collection.