It pains me to admit that I didn’t immediately jump on the project finishing bandwagon. It was some time toward the end of March when I realized a significant amount of time had passed and I hadn’t finished a single project. It’s not like I was doing nothing, of course. I attended a painting convention in Las Vegas as well as Left Coast Crime in Hawaii and worked on book 4 of my Aurora Anderson mystery series.
The problem was, I think, that I hadn’t set myself any dates to finish things by. Even though I’ve been known to grumble about them, deadlines tend to keep me honest. As long as they’re not too impossible to meet, they spur me on to activity.
I’ve made the most progress on partially finished painting projects. I ditched one and completed 4 other projects that required little work. Some only needed to be varnished.
The two painting projects I’m highlighting here required more work. This bear wind chime I started in a painting class mumble-mumble years ago. Okay, it was over ten. Once I sat down, it took me only a few hours to finish. He’s now hanging in my kitchen.
This next photo is of a Christmas decoration I started in a class at the Creative Painting convention this past February. At least I didn’t wait ten years to finish it.
I also repainted the trim around the front door, the simplest of my home improvement projects. I still have numerous other painting, scrapbooking, needlework, etc. projects awaiting my attention.
As for partially done writing projects...on the one hand I don’t have as many of those. On the other, I also haven’t made as much progress as I wanted. I did find some missing notes on a short story I’d somewhat planned out a couple years ago, so I’m hoping to work on that while I’m also writing the book that’s due to my publisher next February.
Sometimes I find that the hardest part about finishing a project is making the decision to sit down and do it. That goes for writing as well, including seemingly simple things like this blog post. I often spend more time thinking about a project than actually working on it. For writing, of course, that thinking time can be very important.
Finishing projects is great for me, psychologically. I really feel a weight lift off my shoulders when I finish one. I’m hoping that, at least on the painting front, once I complete all of my partially done projects, I won’t abandon them as often and finish them in a timely manner.
What projects have you all finished lately? Do deadlines spur you on to activity or make you freeze?
3 comments:
How wonderful to be so talented! Your projects are beautiful.
I'm definitely a deadline person. No deadline/little work. That's me (sadly).
Thanks, Donis. I know, Rick. I sometimes set my own deadlines which sort of works, but it's not quite the same as a deadline imposed by someone else.
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