On the road...

I'm leaving town in a few minutes to go to see my Mom, who's in the hospital. It's pneumonia and she's 90, so this is a non-trivial illness.

I've been getting my affairs in order (so to speak) so I can stay with her as long as needed. Got ample clothing packed, bags of Stuff to work on, 2 computers, chargers ... it looks like a trek across the country not a 4-hour jaunt to a civilized place (yes, Iowa is civilized, no matter what those Left Coasters think!)

Along with all of this are deadlines at the Paycheck Job. I have an exceptional boss, and she's told me just 'go, do whatever you need to do, check in when you.' Thank you, Lord, for good bosses. That being said, I still put in a few extra hours to wrap up some things so others on my project won't be behind the 8-ball because I'm gone.

I've had 5 books release this year, and I'm trying to be a good soldier and do promo for those. Tricky when you're juggling so much else, but I dip in now and then and promo. Not enough, but it'll have to do.

And I had edits for a book which were, thankfully, amazingly light. Done in an hour and out the door. I have a request from an agent for more info about me, my marketing strategy, my books, my sell-through -- all good and all stuff I can put together while sitting in the hospital room with the drone of machines beeping nearby.

As I did all these chores this week, I thought about the old Need vs. Want vs. Should triangle we often find ourselves trapped in. As I did things, I thought, "I should do this, then that'll be finished and I can get on the road" or "I need to get that done so..." or "I want to check that, if I do...."

I finally realized that when Need, Want, and Should all come together it's the right thing to do.

I need to be with Mom. I want to be with her. And I should be with her.

So I'm on the road again...