Twas three nights before Christmas and all through the house

projects of crafting were screaming finish me on time this year.

Laughing.

Every year I plan for who is going to get homemade Christmas presents and how long that will take. The planning is critical because of Nano sucking up all my spare time in November. This year I was doing great. I actually planned to crochet a little during Nano in the thought that using my mind in a different form of creativity when I was too tired to write would actually revitalize me for writing. It must have worked cause I won Nano for the first time ever. And as a bonus I was obscenely ahead in my project plan.

That of course is where my downfall occurred. I though I could add a few things since I was so far ahead. Yes, I did it. I committed the biggest mistake project managers make. I allowed scope creep. And now I am hosed.

I already texted one family to let them know they would be getting New Year’s gifts rather than Christmas ones. At the rate I am going though, it might be Valentine’s gifts. LOL. Luckily they live in Park City, where it snows until June practically so they can still get several months of use out of their mittens even if they arrived in February. LOL.

So in an effort to light my stress fire I detail my situation here:

60% of an afghan to finish by January 1.

One mitten still to crochet and two sets to finish off ASAP.

Another set of mittens to finish by Dec 30th.

Two purses for my son’s little girlfriends by December 29th.

And one paint by number to finish by Dec 24 so it can dry and be framed in time to make it under the tree for Christmas morning. Yes I do dabble in multiple “just follow the instructions” types of arts/crafts.

Not to mention my son wants a purse for his own use and a set of mittens for his own use. He can keep dreaming on that one.

Sadly all this insanity means I have not written a word in two weeks. Two weeks I tell you. It must be a crime against the literary world to leave a novel starving to death for two weeks. I promise to feed it as soon as I clear off these little (snort) nagging projects.

Merry Christmas to you and yours. And if you don’t celebrate Christmas, happy whatever you do celebrate. Just enjoy the time with those you love. And get ready for a grueling run through editing hell, otherwise known as January and February.