Prioritise or Die

Do you know what your priorities are?

Does what you say you want correspond with what you do on a regular basis? 

If it doesn't, then you may feel as though you "die" a little inside every time you don't do what you always say you want to do. Or you may feel like you "die" a little inside every time you feel bad for not doing what you really want to do.

Author and self-help guru James Arthur Ray says you can tell what your priorities are by looking at the five things you do the most every day. 

For instance, you may say that writing is important to you, yet you do little or no writing, yet spend five hours a day watching TV or playing computer games, so clearly those things are your priorities. Or you might spend more time on social media than on putting pen to paper.

I believe that sometimes the hardest person to be honest with is ourselves.

So how about you? What is it that you really want to be spending time doing every day? Being completely honest with yourself is the only way to truly understand what you want out of life. Be true to yourself, not to what you think others want you to do.

Knowing what you want means first knowing what interests you, because if you have no interest in what you do, you won't do it.

And don't forget that priorities can and do change. When my kids were young, they were my main priority. Now that they're adults and can look after themselves, they're much further down the list.

These days, my list of priorities looks more like this:

My Home – I always take care of where I live.

My marriage – My husband, Dean, and I spend most of our time together.

My Writing – I write almost every day, sometimes for a short while, other days for hours.

My Health – I get plenty of exercise, and all my meals are home-cooked. Eating out and takeaways hold little to no interest for me.

My Crafts – I'm always productive, and even when I'm just watching TV, I'm knitting or sewing or doing something else at the same time. Home cooking is also my hobby.

These are the five things I spend my time on daily. 

They are my priorities, and each interests me greatly.

Mission Critical For Life
Start Living Life On Your Terms By Pursuing Your True Life Mission
https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCFL.html 

An Extra Benefit From a Daily Writing Schedule

 No doubt you're aware that I've been talking a lot lately about having a daily writing schedule and sticking to it.

Schedules are great because you don't have to wonder when you'll sit down to write, since it's already there in your schedule.

But there's also another reason why having a schedule is important.

A schedule lets you know when you can shut down for the day.

It's one thing to know when to start writing. It's another thing to know when to stop.

I know that I can get a lot of writing done in just two hours a day. But sometimes when I'm in the flow, I can write for hours.

Some days, I sit down and write thousands of words in my two allotted hours. On other days, I'm restless, so I don't write as much. But that's OK as long as I sit at my writing desk for the full two hours without distractions, because being forced to sit there gives me time to think, and that's when ideas come. 

Thinking creatively is also working, even if I look like I'm staring into space doing nothing.

Being creative is a lot more than getting words down on paper (although that IS the goal), it's about giving ourselves time to think.

And to also know when to stop working.

And scheduling just two hours a day means I know when to start, how long to keep going, and when I can stop if I want to.

But I don't always want to.

Stop Procrastinating 
And Take Back Control Of Your Life

https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/sp.html

83 Free-to-Enter Writing Contests in March 2026

If you enjoy entering writing contests, you'll like this.

This is an amazing list of writing contests that are free to enter, and all have deadlines next month, so you might have to be quick to enter some of them.

There are more than six dozen free writing contests on this list for short fiction, novels, poetry, creative nonfiction, nonfiction, and plays. 

The prizes range from $100,000 to publication. And don't forget, it costs nothing to enter.

Some of these contests have age, geographical, and other restrictions, so read the instructions carefully.

Start writing today, and good luck.

https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/2026/02/76-writing-contests-in-march-2026-no.html

Work Like The Duffers

A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for Netflix for one month so I could re-watch the first 4 seasons of Stranger Things and then watch the final 5ᵗʰ season, which had just finished airing on TV.

It was quite the binge-fest, which was good because Stranger Things is one of the best shows I've ever seen.

Luckily, there was also a follow-up 2- hour documentary called" One More Adventure" which was all about the making of season 5, and it was fascinating to watch.

Stranger Things was created, written and produced by the Duffer brothers, Matt and Ross. The brothers were extremely hands-on in every aspect of making Stranger Things.

One of the many things I found interesting in the documentary was that they had stand-ins for every main actor, and they would run through every scene repeatedly with the look-alike stand-ins, going over and over every small detail until they got it perfect. Then they'd bring in the main actors and show them the footage of exactly what they had to do, where they had to stand and which direction they wanted them to look in. And thanks to all the previous work with the stand-ins, the crew had all the lighting and camera angles prepared.

As I watched it, I thought about what a great idea it was to do all the preparation beforehand because sometimes they realised that what they'd written in the script didn't work in actual execution, so they had to change things on the go.

And I realised that it's the same when I outline a book before writing it. I begin with my ideas (script) and then flesh them out into an outline. And this is where I find out if something is missing, or the order of things doesn't make sense, or if there's something that I've left out.

When I'm writing a short story, it's fun to 'pants' it without an outline, and even if it goes wrong, I don't have to go back far to fix it.

But when I'm working on a book, it's a project that's too big for errors, and I don't want to get it wrong or leave something out.

I prefer to work like the Duffers on big projects and get everything in place before the final 'take.'

Not only is it helpful, but it makes the actual writing a lot more fun.

The One Month Author
How to Write a Book Faster & Better

https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCWS4.html