Getting things done

We are always doing something, talking, reading, listening to the radio, planning what next. The mind is kept naggingly busy on some easy, unimportant external thing all day.  - Brenda Ueland 

We are traditionally rather proud of ourselves for having slipped creative work in there between the domestic chores and obligations.  I'm not sure we deserve such big A-pluses for that.  - Toni Morrison

So easy to get distracted these days.  Me?  I find myself lost in a world of meaningless Facebook updates and tweets, playing Words with Friends and worrying too much about dusting or laundry and how I can put them off as long as possible.  Today I have an appointment at 11:45 and I'm trying to decide: Do I get an hour or so of writing in?  Or do I go ahead and do some chores and write later?  And the trash kind of smells. Should I take it out now or go ahead and get some vacuuming done and then empty the debris from the vacuum before taking out the trash?  All the while I'm looking at the clock and realizing I have less time write, now that I've been contemplating my chores.  And then I get frustrated at the end of the day when I'm in a spotless house but I also have spotless blank pages staring back at me.  Or even worse, when there is still dusting to be done but somehow hours have gone by and the end of the day arrives.  I guess you could say I'm lacking a bit of focus.  I would like to blame it on my three week hiatus - and getting back into the swing of things is part of it - but really, these "unimportant external things" nag at me all the time.  So I find myself constantly fighting with myself to prioritize.  Living a creative life is quite romantic in concept and often is romantic in execution.  It's the execution-part that can sometimes be difficult.