Still running on empty

Lack of sleep continues to be a problem; my internal clock has shifted further off kilter from the 9-5 world. Caffeine barely keeps me going, while at the same time perpetuates the viscious cycle--

I don't believe it. Our male cat just peed on a partially assembled jigsaw! My daughter placed the puzzle board on the floor instead of the table so the clumsy female cat wouldn't scatter (or steal) the pieces. To make matters worse, as tired as I am, when I attempted to dump the urine soaked pieces in the trash, a bunch missed the can and scattered everywhere, which means I need to shampoo the carpet too--the puzzle board wouldn't fit through the kitchen door so I brought the trash can in the dining room. Oh, these stupid, stupid animals...pets are supposed to reduce stress, not increase it.

Now I'm too mad to sleep!

Running on fumes

I'm exhausted yet can't sleep: too much on my mind, too much to be done, and too little energy. My office remains a wreck; it's slightly cleaner and less cluttered but far from clean or clutter free. I'll tackle the mess eventually--though I certainly won't lose any sleep over the mess!

Hmm, not sure what keys I just hit but I activated some sticky keys feature. Not sure how the feature works or why I'd want to use it so I hit cancel.

I hate when I'm too tired to sleep but not alert enough to accomplish anything worthwhile, such as editing the textbook chapter that arrived today. It's a long chapter but should go faster than others of similar length. A cursory glance reveals mostly formatting and style issues. The citation style is unusual compared to the other chapters: inline citations with roman numeral endnotes, yet the endnote text consists of ellipses and the text appears elsewhere in a numbered list. I suspect the author unsuccessfully attempted to convert the endnotes to footnotes. If I'm lucky I can cut and paste the notes and automatically convert them to footnotes. I'll tackle that mess tomorrow when I'm better rested.

I need to focus on my paying work, but the neverending volunteer work is preventing me from sleeping well. Between the meetings, financial reports, e-mails, newsletters, event planning, Web site updates, etc., there's no catching up--someone or something always needs attention. It's overwhelming.

Slow going

Sigh...I'm still in cleaning and decluttering mode. After three grocery sacks of magazines, I had to take a break from culling magazines. I've since discarded another sack--double-bagged, of course--and expect to toss another half a bag or more. I'm down to hobby, regional, business, and computer magazines. Oh, and several newsletters and association pubs.

I've finished sorting and rearranging my books. I hate parting with books, but I managed to fill a couple boxes to donate to the library or Salvation Army. I'm now able to squeeze the remaining books on my bookshelves; before many were stacked on the floor, on tables, under the bed, etc.

I've shredded countless papers--the piles of paperwork are a seemingly bottomless pit. Culling magazines is far easier. The paperwork will take forever...or so it seems. Sigh....

Small dent

The magazine culling is slow going. Today I tackled the piles of Time, Newsweek, Parents, Family Fun, Parenting, and half of the Family Circles. I've reboxed the piles of Smithsonian, Writer's Digest, British Heritage, In Britain, etc. Still many magazines to sort through; more may await in an inacessible large box. I'm making progress albeit it slowly. Tonight's task: the remaining Family Circles and perhaps the Woman's Days.

Clutter control

I'm regretting the decision to clean my office. Too much needs to be done.

It'll take weeks to complete the entire task properly. Heck, it'll take days just to complete the first tedious task: culling magazines. My goal is to keep a sample of each target publication--more copies if it's a relatively obscure pub that the local library doesn't carry. I'm clipping potential research material and sample columns/departments; ideally, the clipped material will be neatly filed, but first I must purge my files to make room for new material...realistically, the material will become clutter itself. Clipping is time consuming and boring. But it's the lesser of evils. The worst tasks are yet to come....

Time lapse

The past four months slipped by too quickly--and without a single blog post. I'm terrible about losing track of time. I suppose it's a side effect or symptom of procrastination....

Anyway, while rearranging my office furniture and sifting through the clutter, I found a quote that applies to my manuscript revision:

"When overwhelmed and confused, it is easy to quit the project. The solution is to break up the manuscript into many small easy-to-attack chunks (and never start at page one, where the hill looks steepest). Then concentrate on one section at a time and do a thorough job on each."

--Dan Poynter, self-publishing guru

Although the advice isn't new, the reminder is always reassuring, and the same strategy could be applied to my ongoing office decluttering. (I'm tempted to stash the remaining mess instead of sifting through everything!) My task for the evening: weed out magazines.