bout a year or so ago, I took a week off and hung out at the beach with the wife. Mookie the cat loved it – she’d watch the ocean for hours. And I planned to work on whatever it was I was writing then. Just six days of yawning mornings and productive days.

Didn’t happen.

No, I played computer games. I read. I walked on the beach. I ate too much. And I took a lot of naps.

Hardly wrote a thing.

Recently at work we were offered buy outs (actually, I thought they said buy outs, but they must have said “bait and switch”). Didn’t get it. But I was close enough to it to think about my own retirement, my days open, my productivity my own. And there was concern that after years of tight control on my life it would become one of those endless vacations, just lazing around and getting nothing done.

Well, now I’ve got a week of use-or-lose vacation and I’ll be damned if I just give it to corporate like I always did. So I’m taking a last minute staycation here at the place. I’ve got the kittens. I’ve got a Yamato video. But I’ve also found that if I keep my productivity in my mind, I can do this. I wrote eight pages at the beginning of the week. I’ve also pulled out a bed of weeds, got the car repaired, did two doctor appointments and got two long bike rides in (a 30 mile and a 50 mile). So, great, I think I’m still getting things done.

But for those with time on your hands, grip it tightly. Don’t let it run through your fingers like hourglass sand. There is so much that needs doing.

Like this blog.

Another item off the list.

>>>OH, AND DON’T FORGET – MY NOVELS ARE DOWN THIS LINK. HAVE A LOOK AND PICK SOMETHING UP. THANKS!<<<