To some people, Fall is a season of endings: the end of the freedom of summer, the hibernation or death of plants and animals. I don’t experience it that way. I blame my perspective on the ritual of school. Kindergarten. Elementary school. Middle and High school. September was time for starting over with new journeys, new goals. Consequently. Each September I plan anew. Its time to organize my home and my work, as well as formulate goals for my writing, my finances and my health.
I love the starting over that September brings! Organizing is kind of my thing. I’ve read dozens and dozens of books on the subject. From the SideTracked Sisters to Flylady, to the Happiness Files, I’ve tried them all. For your benefit, I’ve culled all of the best advice down to five key rules of thumb. If, like me, this is your time to get your best organized self in gear, these will get you started on the right track.
◦ Store stuff where you use it. For the longest time, I would keep unopened mail and bills in my office. When I was ready to go through them, I’d bring them to the dining room table and pay bills, go through correspondence , etc. When finished, the plan was always to put everything back in my office. Sometimes I would. Mostly it all stayed in a disheveled pile on the table. Then I discovered this eye opening bit of advice, and put a stand-alone storage organizer in the dining room, the kind with pockets to hold bills, junk mail, letters, a calendar and the checkbook. Voila! No more mess on the dining room table, because I created a system to store my mail and bills where I use them.
◦ A place for everything, and everything in its place. This was my moms mantra. It makes sense, of course, and is an organizing truth. But to really work it, it must be taken a step further: When that designated place has no more room, neither do you. For example, one entire wall in my media room is lined with storage for cds. Another wall holds DVDs. My DVD wall is full, and there is no other space designated. If I buy a new DVD, I can only make room by giving one away. Sounds harsh, I know. But the alternative is an unending accumulation.
◦ Use secure cloud storage. I was late to the party on this one, but learn from my stubbornness. I wasted time, energy and other resources with thumb drives and cutting and pasting. It is well worth investing in additional cloud storage and apps that synchronize your data across your devices.
◦ Schedule your week. And stick to it. I fought against this organizing tool for a long time. I couldn’t see how you could live a spontaneous and creative life while planning every minute. I cannot imagine grocery shopping EVERY Thursday, oatmeal EVERY Monday, or not being able to go to a movie on Wednesday because it’s laundry day. Unfortunately, I found that without some level of planning my week gets away from me. A compromise that works for me is sitting down on Saturday or Sunday with my calendar and to do list and plan my week, determining the best day/ time to accomplish what’s needed. Every week and every day looks different, but important things get done.
And finally—
◦ How you start the day is how it will end. Every time. If I take an hour to drink my coffee watching the birds, I’m guaranteed to have a low energy, minimal accomplishment sort of day. Not that there’s anything wrong with days like this. Just yesterday my partner and I woke up late, had a very leisurely breakfast, and wound up with a tea drinking, nap taking, tv binging day. We did nothing productive and it was glorious. But if the goal was to complete a project or write a few thousand words we began the day very badly. We would have been more successful had we’d gotten up and quickly started working.
Naturally, these strategies are likely not the only ones you’ll need. Life is more complicated than that. But give them a try— They will help you ensure a good start to a Fall renewal.
Sex. Rebellion. Rock and roll.
Living After Midnight, Book 1
Sex. Rebellion. Rock and Roll.
An incubus and two toddlers walk into a bar…wait. That's no joke. That's Cheyenne's life, and you weren't supposed to see them.
Cheyenne, a half-human incubus, is good at keeping secrets. He keeps his music career hidden from his tyrannical father. He keeps his true nature as an incubus secret from the humans whose lust sustains him. And he keeps his children unknown to the incubi, especially the royal family—his family.
As Cheyenne's musical career takes off, his carefully constructed life begins to unravel, exacerbated by an ex-lover who can't let go, a crotchety barkeeper with a dirty mind and a pure heart, a drag queen who moonlights as a nanny, and Alexander—who's not sure if he's falling for the incubus or the rocker.
His so-called friends and family conspire to make Cheyenne choose between his children and his career, but he isn’t playing that game. He doesn't buy into the “your kids could save the race" madness. He only has to keep them safe. Besides he's got bigger plans—he's going to be a rockstar.
Warning: Contains hot were-tiger sex, a Thanksgiving celebration that makes the Inquisition look like a tea party, and an incubus who’ll rock your world.
Copyright ©2015 First Edition Trevann Rogers
Second Edition Copyright © 2017 Trevann Rogers
Excerpt
~~~~
The blue-gray glow of the synthesizer’s lights increased with the music’s crescendo and tugged him to the edge of his seat. The beginning of a show was one of his favorite parts. He was also partial to the middle and the end.
But Alexander didn’t applaud and stomp and scream in anticipation like the rest of the crowd. He was grateful to be able to keep his composure, but the truth was, it was all he could do to remember to breathe.
With a burst of light and a thunderous chord, Cheyenne appeared at center stage, arms out from his sides. An ethereal white light illuminated him. A rock and roll messiah.
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Trevann’s Bio
Trevann Rogers writes urban fantasy and LGBT paranormal romances. Her books include HOUSE OF THE RISING SON and its prequel novella, AFTER MIDNIGHT. Trevann's stories incorporate an unquenchable addiction to music and her love for vampires, Weres, incubi and rock stars. Like these elusive creatures, Trevann learned long ago that sometimes being yourself means Living After Midnight.
You can find Trevann online at:
Twitter: @TrevannRogers
2 comments:
This was fun! Thanks for having me!
Great post, Trevann. Lots of good ideas. Thank you.
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