I’ve officially made it to the half-way mark.  Yay me.

More accurately, Yay God for providing the people who share my world and my kids.

I’ve worked on my novel on the mornings my children play with friends, and in the evenings I’ve been continuing to get ready for school.

(Starting on the 17th of August.  Clock’s ticking.)

One element of preparation has been to work out a schedule, and toward that end I’ve been working my way through the MOTH workbook.  This morning I officially *finished* assembling a (mathematically) workable schedule.

I have made schedules before, and they didn’t “work” for me, but based on how useful I found WW– despite it not actually offering any new information– I figured a very basic, highly structured approach could also be useful.

Best as I can evaluate so far, it has been.  I’m looking at something that seems possible, that I’ll only have to implement half of for at least a month.

The interesting thing about this workbook is how it guides you to begin by listing “What God wants you to accomplish in a day.”  This starts things out with a proper perspective, and keeps my to-do desire  in perspective.

Since we know that God prepares the work he has for us to do, and that he prepares us for the work, there is in my mind the settled assurance that everything He wants me to do for Him (and it’s all to be done as to the Lord, right?) will fit.

With the focused use of time, I can interact individually with my children, and (at least) begin teaching those things I’d be disappointed if I didn’t try for.  I also have a slot for writing each day and for maintaining my home.

Those slots may become somewhat interchangeable if I can prove to myself that maintenance is possible with less devotion, but for now the fact that I can have a sacred hour every day should make it easier to do home-keeping first.

~ ~ ~

Moving into the second half of the novel, I am going to be meeting “younger” work than I have revised in years. And while I console myself by saying these “first-draft” additions are probably already at the 3rd- or 4th- revision level (if I could compare their quality to my first-first draft), they still are very young and un-tried.

So I have to expect the process to be slower.

Still, I am excited, because I now have a level of comfort that I won’t need to abandon the writing altogether, making it easier to spread my focus out as I continue to prepare for school.

I know how to move slowly; I just don’t want to stop moving.

And here we come back to knowing what God wants of one, and trusting that he will provide a way to obey.

I know God wants me to write this story.  I do not know yet if He wants it published, but I know I have to be responsible for my own obedience, whatever He plans to do with it.