Here’s more evidence that 2019 did not go as planned.

That’s from my very cluttered personal Goodreads profile, which I keep separate from my author Goodreads profile so you don’t have to wade through the clutter of my 51 custom bookshelves. (Yes, there really are 51…I just counted.) But because I can’t help being an optimist, I’ve just signed up for another lofty goal!

Here’s to never giving up! 🙂

Speaking of never giving up, Jasper is now signed up for regular physical therapy visits in town. He has some issues with his back, as well as hip dysplasia. For a while we were worried he’d need a hip replacement, but the orthopedists decided his pain is from his back, not his hips. He’s also been compensating for pain for years, probably for long before we even realized anything was wrong, so he puts more weight on his front legs than his back. Right now we’re doing stretchy exercises, acupuncture, and yesterday his new physical therapist also did ultrasound and laser therapy (we all wore protective goggles, even Jasper!).

Jasper is doing a LOT better than he was a month ago, when we had two days where he couldn’t lie down on his own. Literally—we had to pick him up and put him down on his side. We still aren’t totally sure what he did at that point (he did see two vets at the time), but we’re happy to be back to where we were in the fall. This is not, however, where we were this time last year. Jasper took a turn for the worse this past August, which is why he saw the orthopedists and started his initial physical therapy program at Colorado State University. We’ve switched physical therapists only because it’s almost an hour and a half drive to CSU. We can’t fix everything that’s wrong with him, but hopefully we can help make him feel better!

I’m currently working on my schedule for 2020, since this is The Year of the Schedule. 🙂 It’s a little overwhelming because there are a zillion things I want to do, so I’m trying to focus on categories of work instead of look at the big (and panic-inducing) picture. The high-level categories are:

• Writing
• Editing
• Publishing
• Audio
• Marketing
• Organization

Looks pretty straightforward, right? 🙂

There are obviously a lot more details involved in each category, but it definitely helps to think of these as separate chunks of work. For example, I can put together my writing schedule separately from my editing schedule, then look at both together and adjust as needed. But if I think about all my deadlines at once, it’s hard to focus are there are just way too many details.

The other thing I’m trying very, very hard to do is to plan in buffer time AND stick to my schedule and not allow myself to procrastinate because I know there’s buffer time. 🙂 Instead, my intention is to get ahead on everything and use the buffer time for surprise events that pop up, like when Jasper couldn’t lie down on his own for two days.

And, of course, I need to factor in time to play!