The fact that I am unable to do all I would like to do, all I am interested in doing, or all I think I should do is a great disappointment to me.

For example, there is a paper due in two days. It is for publication in a recognized series. I have work in the area already published and would be particularly interested in getting more.

Unfortunately, it is in two days. For the last three weeks I’ve been working on getting my online course up and running, teaching my six writing classes, and getting my grading for those six classes done.

This weekend I have spent two hours grading, but mostly I have used the day for work at my home, which tends to end up last on the long list of things I need to do.

Today, along with helpful members of my family, I got rid of a broken couch and stove. I cleaned out the garage and took a truck full of stuff to the shelter thrift store. My plans for the afternoon/evening include cleaning out three closets and trying to make better use of space.

I don’t have time to write that paper, which has been on my wish list of things to do for over a month. Because, as can happen too often, my teaching gets in the way of my writing.

But if I want to get a job, somewhere, someday, working full-time, I need to keep papers in the pipe.

That means that right now I don’t have time to do that paper, but soon I have to carve out time for the presentation I’m giving next month and to write another paper. I just wish, fruitlessly I know, that I had the superpower of going really fast and getting things done, so that I could write that chapter I already have the notes for.