My One Word

by Tammy Karasek @TickledPinkTam

When I go to bed I’m exhausted until my head hits the pillow. Then my eyes pop open as I think of a new scene or two for my fiction project. I grab my cell phone, turn down the brightness so I don’t wake up my husband and begin to one-finger type away the scenes.

Another scene idea pops up. No, this is familiar. I realize that’s not a scene after all, but a memory from long ago and I should write it down in my notes so I don’t forget to add it to my nonfiction book I’m also writing. 

Speaking of books, I need to remember to finish reading the Launch Team books I’m committed to so I can finish the Team projects. Did I write them on my list so I don’t forget to do them?

Thinking about projects, I have some unfinished sewing and quilting projects I’d like to finish to clean out the to-do bin. And that ever-growing mending pile is growing out of the basket and up the wall like a vine, and not one with good fruit. I need to get to that basket and clear it out. 

While on the topic of areas that need to be cleared out, my office looks like a grenade went off in there. I realize I’ve been in there everyday in November doing NaNoWriMo, but it looks like a scene from the show Hoarders. Not just the room itself, but the desk in particular. How can one person collect so many pieces of paper in just one month?

Now that I’m fully awake, it occurs to me I may have found my My One Word for 2020. (For more info on this, check out: http://myoneword.org) If you’re not familiar with this concept, basically each January you choose a word that you would like to concentrate on or to improve in your life. Some I’ve had were trust, believe, content and complete. It is suggested to think about a word in November/December until the word to focus on, well comes into focus.

God may be nudging me this year with the word that is in front of my face as in piles in several rooms of my house and also squashing the focus in my brain. That word is Declutter.  Throughout 2019, the word came to me, but it came full-force during the NaNo November of writing everyday for thirty days. Each day striving to hit the word count of 1667, clutter was growing like mold on that orange in the back of the veggie drawer. The clutter spread into my mind. Often this kept me from the ability to focus on my writing. I would try to write and the stack of stuff needing my attention continued to grow like the words in my Scrivener project. But often, those piles grew faster because they muddled my story with their nag to come pay attention to them.

Alas my nightly ritual of losing sleep over the things not put away or given attention to needs to end. When I go to bed, it’s as if I a have a Pavlov’s bell that rings just as my head hits the pillow. My brain kicks into hyper-drive and reminds me of what I didn’t get done today—the guilt for that. And that is mind clutter. Having a home and mind that are uncluttered will give me, as a writer, the clarity to have laser focus on my writing projects.

This year it’s time to change that. I will use the word Declutter as My One Word. I have my planner out and have already added projects to specific days to attack the clutter keeping me from my best productive writing time. I keep it near my desk when I’m writing. If something comes to mind I need to do, I pause and write it in the planner to be assigned when to take care of it. My planner helps keep me focused and my mind less cluttered to stay in the writing mode. 

I am already putting this to the test in December. Last month was the crazy writing schedule for the NaNo project, but December has brought it’s own kind of rush. Looks like it might be a monthly thing, this busyness. What better way to learn a new way to stay on track of my writing schedule than to keep myself uncluttered both in my mind and my home?

For 2020, My One Word is Declutter.

What about you, do you choose a My One Word each year? If so, what is your word for 2020?

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My One Word - @TickledPinkTam on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

You’ll find Tammy seeing humor and causing laughter in every aspect of life. Her past, filled with bullying and criticism from family, is the driving force of her passion to always encourage others and give them The Reason to smile. She’s been married to her college sweetheart, Larry, for 37 years, a mom to their grown daughter, Kristen, and wrapped around the paw of a little dog named Hattie. Born and raised in Ohio, her family now resides in South Carolina. She is the President of Word Weavers Upstate SC, member of ACFW and My Book Therapy/Novel Academy. She’s the Blog Editor for Word Weavers International. A Conference Assistant for Blue Ridge Christian Writers Conference. A monthly contributor for The Write Conversation. A contributor in the 2018 Divine Moments Compilation Book—Cool-inary Moments. Also a regular contributor to several other blogs. 

Connect with Tammy: Blog: http://www.tammykarasek.com  Email: tickledpinktammy@gmail.com