The gold star award

Back when I was still teaching I accidentally started a "thing" in my classroom my students dubbed the Gold Star Award. I had this huge stack of star stickers and when the fifth graders were working on their silent work, I'd walk around and silently put stars on the work that I thought was above and beyond my expectations. It was an extra incentive and they fed on it. They were truly excited when they got the star that day. Anyhow...one day I was a bit hyper while teaching Social Studies (I guess I had a bit too much caffeine that morning) and started giving gold stars during my verbal lessons to any superstar answers the students gave me...but not only did they get a gold star, they got to wear the gold star upon their foreheads. Yes, right smack dab in the middle of their foreheads, Sneeches-style. At first, they were like...uh, no way Ms. B...but then when the first girl wore it, then the next one wore it, the trend sort of picked up and for days thereafter they all were dying for a gold star on their forehead. It was great. After a week, I ended up sending about 15 of my 22 students to enrichment class with stars on their foreheads...stars, mind you, that they earned with top-notch answers and hard core learning. It was days like that that I remember how much I loved teaching. I felt like I earned a gold star myself.


But even if I had earned one...I'd have to give it back these days because my procrastination in almost everything I do has earned me a negative hundred-plus gold stars. Yes, I'm busy. Yes, I have kids. Yes, I have a full-time job. Yes, I have a 70 pound dog who thinks he's small enough to sit in my 6 year-old's lap with ease and acts like a garbage-disposal-like-goat but is actually ADHD with severe anxiety and all puppy. And yes, I have this excuse and that excuse, and even the one I haven't thought of yet.  But seriously...excuses are just that. EXCUSES!  (Stupid, ugly E word.)

Source: southern-simplistic-soul.tumblr.com via Heather on Pinterest

So, here's my plan to get three things in my life back on track (and I need a volunteer or two to help keep me accountable):

1. Get my blog posts caught up. By my count, I have 19 book blurb reviews to write. 19!!  I haven't written any since July of last year. SAD!  I also have 5 drafts started on different posts on writing, and 2 additional posts drafted on craft projects I worked on in April. AND I also have a crazy bunghole-load of randomness posts in mind. I need a plan to get these caught up.  Any ideas?
2. Must. Finish. Book. I'm on my fifth rewrite/draft of my teen witch story and I hit that "I'm stuck" middle-stage yet again. I've said it before and I'll say it 500 more times...I hate middles. Despise them. They shouldn't be hard at all, but yet, I get held up there all the time. I need someone who can hold me accountable to writing deadlines. Someone who will push me and make me finish. Volunteers?
3. Keep Reading. I've been on a bit of a reading spree, having read 11 books in the last 3 months. I'm finally making a dent in my TBR pile and I have a pile of 6 more that I want to attack before summer is over. Anyone feeling a read-a-thon coming on?

While I have SO much more going on that needs a game plan  (ahem! cough! *whispers* cleaning, organizing, weeding, all-things-domestic, etc.), these three things are at the top of my list. And I'm seriously taking volunteers to help me get my head back in the game. I need someone to give me a gold star when I've done good and to be honest with me when I'm not. If you're up to the challenge, let me know!  I'll be glad to return the favor.