I’m a great lover of goal setting and compiling to-do lists. Every day I make a list of the things I want to accomplish, and these lists feed into my weekly, monthly and annual goals. All very well and good you might think, but it came to me recently that I spend a huge amount of time planning for the future. Again, not a problem. Everyone should plan for the future, otherwise life becomes a fulfillment of the saying “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”

But what happens when life steps in and our goals aren’t met? When items don’t get ticked off the lists? It’s too easy to fall into the trap of becoming despondent, or believing that we’ve let ourselves down and failed big time. And a sense of failure can be a pernicious thing, dripping so readily into many other areas of our lives and making us doubt our abilities.

I have a writing accountability partner and each week we share our goals for the next seven days. We’re supportive and congratulatory, but we never berate each other if either one of us falls behind on our goals, especially when this is due to unexpected circumstances. Life happens. What proved a revelation for me was when a mutual friend suggested not simply focusing on what we had planned, but failed, to accomplish during the week, but instead celebrated what we did accomplish. Those unplanned things that crop up unexpectedly, like helping out a friend who needed our support, but in doing so meant we missed out on several hours writing time and didn’t meet our word count that day. Or maybe one of our children wanted our attendance at an impromptu play, or school gathering. Then there’s playing ball in the garden with a new puppy (that would be me this week). Or it could simply be that we needed to take time out for ourselves to refresh and rejuvenate. Are those things any less important, or fulfilling, than achieving daily word counts, hitting sales targets or the other myriad tasks we set ourselves?

I’m not suggesting we throw away our lists or stop setting goals. Heavens no. Personally, I’d feel dangerously adrift in stormy waters with no life jacket in sight. I’m just advocating we all take the time to smell those precious roses now and again, and not to beat ourselves over the head when we do. If we fail to meet our self-imposed targets and goals for the day/week/month, it’s very likely the world won’t come to an end. As someone once quipped “nobody ever said on their death-bed that they wished they’d spent more time in the office”

Have a great day!

www.fayeavalon.com

Indecent Exposure

She’s gotten herself into hot water, and the heat just keeps on rising.

Gina McKenzie didn’t make the same mistakes her mother made with men. She just made different ones. Like letting a good one get away—and trusting a bad one to keep her kinky tastes private.

With an ex-lover holding a naked bondage video over her head, she’s forced to reunite with an old college crush to get the dirty on him. Back then, she resorted to humiliating Mitchell Coleman to keep her heart safe. Now she has no choice but to compromise him in the worst possible way.

When Gina walks back into Mitchell’s life and starts seducing him, desire wars with suspicion. Last time this happened, she tossed him to the wolves. If she’s going to serve herself up on a plate, he intends to make her see exactly what she missed by rejecting him all those years ago.

But Mitch soon realizes that Gina has an agenda other than heating up the sheets—and this time he’s not going to let her play him for a fool.

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