Design for living

Since deciding my life must feature more external gratification - shallow, I know, but there is something to be said for self-awareness - I have realised that, really, my objectives are thus:

1. Be a wonderful mother and wife. Mainly to allow for the rest of this list being about me, me, me.

2. Get paid to write stuff. For this one, the stuff doesn't really matter. The money doesn't really matter that much either, it's mostly just about getting pats on the back.

3. Get free books. Getting books for free would, in itself, go a long way towards replacing my substantial lost salary. I have always spent profligately where books are concerned and this has only been exacerbated by my stay at home mum status - I've found if you're willing to tolerate early rises and fractious bedtimes you can get a surprising number of books read during afternoon nap time.

4. Do something to help others. (This one is actually in the bag, I hope, since I am just about to start training to be a Samaritan)

5. Think about whether one day I could actually write something that did matter. Notice I say think, I don't want to set myself up for failure here.

6. Do all of the above with an air of efficient ease such that people literally stop in the street and stare, wondering, HOW DOES SHE DO IT.

7. Do all of the above without having to speak to anyone, move outside of my comfort zone, cut down on reading time or in any other way put myself out.

I've reviewed the list and think everything is eminently achievable. They're certainly more achievable than most of the tasks I was asked to do when I actually had a job... and I seemed to excel at those.