About Me

A Grievous Loss and a New Life Journey

Lynette M Burrows

Why have I been absent from blogging? I’ve had a grievous loss and a new life journey to travel. My husband, Robert W. Burrows, died on February 10th. His death was quick and unexpected, though we’d been expecting it for years. Prepared Yet Unprepared When death comes, no matter how prepared you think you are—it’s unexpected. First, there’s a kind of numbness. Then a deep sharp twisting unrelenting pain. Grief is uncomfortable and messy and an overwhelming tidal wave. When a loved one dies, you go through the motions of daily life, find paperwork, eat, and sleep— if you can. You have moments when you feel almost normal then a small thing, often a ridiculous thing, triggers a tsunami of emotions. One friend likened this to walking through a field peppered with landmines. For me it feels like I’m trying to swim to shore—one wave carries me closer to solid ground and the next one slaps me down to the bottom of the ocean, drags me through the sand and silt, spins me in circles until I don’t know up from down, and drags me further from shore than I’ve ever been before. And yet, sometimes I make it close […]

My Month Shock and Relief on Repeat

Lynette M Burrows

My month of shock and relief on repeat is almost a continuation of our 2020 trials and tribulations. But not quite. While shocks came, relief came soon after. Of course, the insurgency at the Capitol was an enormous shock. It remains the top shocking and horrifying event for the month. But there were personal shocks as well. And enough relief that I made some progress on my monthly intentions. Making Wish I could say I made substantial progress this month. I wrote a lot of words. I cut even more words, hopefully improving the manuscript. The second draft has reached the midpoint. Finally. *Smile* I improved both the number of words written and the time spent on writing over January 2020, but my husband was in rehab a year ago. I published twelve blog posts this month. Even gained a few new subscribers. Hello and Welcome! **Waves** Editorial calendars are great tools, I’m told. But I have struggled to use one for my blog. This month I had a lightbulb moment that may be my way of using an editorial calendar. I won’t say more about this until my first quarter progress report. It’s not truly a success unless I […]

What I Learned 2020

Lynette M Burrows

“What I learned in 2020” could be a joke. Sadly, last year’s problems will continue for a while. But I am a writer. And a business woman. A review of my year is still necessary. Intentions I use a couple of systems blended together to record and track my intentions each year. (If you need help creating your yearly plan try Orna Ross’s Go Creative.) I divide my intentions into four primary areas: Make (anything creative), Manage (anything business related), Market (advertising and anything related to advertising), and Home (everything else.) Last year started with an extensive list of intentions. By the end of the year, I thought I’d failed most of them. I always think I’ve failed to accomplish the things I wanted to do at the end of the year. Therefore, I regularly review my intentions and what I do and don’t accomplish. Make The Make portion of my intentions consumed 66% of my time. This came very close to fulfilling my intentions. The plan was to finish the first draft, the revision draft, and publish If I Should Die, book two of the Fellowship Dystopia. I also included a stretch goal of outlining a novella and the […]