Tambo has a great post today, featuring an excerpt from C.E. Murphy (motivated by 17 Important Things if You Want to Be A Freelancer), on “It’s Just Work.” I started doing a comment but realized it was going to get lengthy. Here’s my comment:

This post makes me wonder what “The Dirty Jobs” guy would get out of shadowing a fiction writer for a few days. Especially after the imagery of the boulder in mud and dog doo comment…

I spent another hour this week with just me, planning my life. I’ve downloaded the trial version of Mind Manager Pro 6 and have been using it. I just began using it at work, and found it very intuitive. I have Inspiration, but it hasn’t worked as well for me as I’d hoped (Inspiration is significantly less expensive, though). I’ve been doing this since reading Tish’s post a couple weeks ago about NT. I’ve been meaning to map the plan for my life for a long time, but instead of actually doing it, I’ve been drifting. I kind of know, but keeping it in my head hasn’t worked. And it’s contrary to David Allen‘s Getting Things Done (GTD), which I’ve been learning to practice for the last year. GTD is not that hard, but it is something you can continually improve upon.

I haven’t been proud of this writing year. I’ve struggled throughout the year. I have, I believe, done a few things that have kept me crawling forward. I’ve read widely, I’ve done some revision work, I’ve jotted new ideas, typed a few thousand new words, and I’ve devised a plan to be better next year . The new ideas have been a pleasant surprise — new ideas have come slowly in the past. A spigot still hasn’t turned on, but I have a periodic trickle of ideas. I’m sure they’ll begin to flow more easily soon.

Since I got serious about writing back in 2002, I’ve known “It’s Just Work.” I’m still preparing for the full-time aspect of it, currently anticipated to be sometime around 2008. A review of my 2006 Goals, posted January 2nd reveal the following (this is the first I’ve looked at them since I posted them):

1. I’ve done well with my personal goals. I haven’t made much progress getting rid of stuff around the house. My physical fitness hasn’t improved much because of my knee problems, but I’m holding my own.
2. Writing goals have stalled on the first one, but I have done some agent research. I’m prepping for my NaNo novel this week. Even though the NaNo novel will be a true test of the “No Plot? No Problem!” theory. It is geared toward getting me on track for a better writing year in 2007.

I’m well aware it’s “Just Work.” It will be better. It’s work I’ve chosen to do.