Goal for the new year

My work goal this year is very simply to get some work done. It's not ambitious by any means, but then again with an infant around just getting some work done is rather ambitious itself.

(The last time I posted was just a few hours before he was born, and that was nine months ago. My work has been nearly as sparse as my posts.)

My work, and hence my income and my opportunities for more work, suffered greatly last year since I was not able to write as much as I was before the baby was born. Fortunately, I didn't lose any jobs/clients, but I did have to go from a weekly assignment to a monthly assignment with one newspaper and went for months on end without submitting anything to my best paying newspaper client.

Desperation has brought on several light bulb moments lately and one of them was to try working at night and at other times when I have some help with the baby.

Though I hate working while my husband and the other kids are around (I feel that I should be spending that time with them) I've been having them babysit the baby while I work some in the afternoons/evenings. The baby is old enough now to go to bed with his dad at night and sleep three or four hours for the first stretch, and I've been using that time to really get down to business.

I've continued to make my phone calls during the day, and then I use the evenings/night to actually write. This plan seems so simple but my mind was clouded with many things, including a great deal of frustration in not being able to get anything accomplished.

It's all worked out unbelievably well so far. The weekends seem to be my best times to work, since I have more hours available with someone to help care for the baby. I work a few hours a few nights during the week depending on how much work I have to do.

I just started this a few weeks ago but it's going really well. I got caught up very quickly and have now am working to get back to normal with everything on frequency of publication.

A side goal for this would to become more balanced with working, getting enough rest, and spending more time with my family. Now that goal is ambitious.