Tips, Tricks and Tales - A Muse's Take on Time Management by Vanessa Wright

“What time management?” I asked this as I rushed around like a headless chicken. 
“Dear, you have to stop and take a deep, cleansing breath,” the muse said as she looked at me over her horn rimmed spectacles. I have no idea where she got them, nor do I care, right now, but truth be told she looks like an eccentric old biddy. Would I say this out loud? Not a chance; I loved my life as hectic as it seems to be. And was she now into meditation or yoga, I wondered? She seemed spectacularly serene amidst my running, fluttering and flapping.

“I have to order next month’s movies and update the list of books I currently have on the system and do the housework and garden and STILL find time to write three novels this year and edit an anthology!”

“Spreading yourself a little thin dear? Crazy does not look good on you, you know.”

I realised that they would soon be scraping me off the walls with a spatula if I didn’t take the time to set up some sort of time schedule. I envisioned brawny nurses dragging me away in a straight jacket. No, that would certainly not do! Besides which I was getting cranky and angry at everything. The prime example being when I got to work on Monday and found that one of my employees had decided that playing with a candle at the ripe age of 21 was certainly a fun thing to do. More fun could be had if you dripped the hot wax down the toilet bowl and never cleaned it. Enter me! My head explodes and wraps itself around the cell phone were it sits sending the following message: “Who the &*((^ threw hot wax down the toilet bowl, come in and clean it on the double! Who do you think I am? Your maid?”

“Crazy is as crazy does,” said the serene muse.

I was tempted to throw a few choice words at her, but realised that I would never be able to break through her calm facade. I turned on my laptop, opened Excel and made a spreadsheet in which I spread myself around thinly. All that remained was to see if I could stick to it. I’m not known for my planning and when the muse shows up everything goes to hell anyway and I have to follow her down the yellow brick road.

Wish me luck, maybe just maybe I might be able to manage my time better in the future!

Vanessa Wright

She is a 47 year old visual artist, author, mom and pug breeder. Two of her Afrikaans short stories have recently been published in My kort vir jou sop available on www.amazon.com as an e-book and soon to be released in soft cover. She has taken part in Nanowromo 2012 and 2013 and reached the target on day 26. She has also published a collection of short stories on Smashwords, titled Twisted. http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/361196. She has written the winning Christmas story 2013 http://awritersgallery.wordpress.com/2013/12/22/winner-for-the-christmas-writers-challenge/

She has her own blog at http://iread1966.wordpress.com, appropriately named Humouring the dark, where the muse has captured many readers’ attention and a book about the character is in the offing. She is also active on Facebook and Twitter and is a member of a writing group. She leads her own book club and is a true bookaholic. Writing has always been her passion, however the timing always seemed incorrect as daily life interrupted more frequently than not. Now, she has decided to go big or go home.