Lists--Five Plus Five

I find that making lists helps see things more clearly, but I don't like long lists. How about making two lists of five items each? One will be the things that you find frustrating in your writing life and the other about the parts that are satisfying. 

Here's my Five Plus Five lists. Now, you'll know some of my secrets!

Frustrations

1.  waiting to hear from editors

2.  not having as much time to write as I'd like

3.  not getting published in high paying markets

4.  not having as great a vocabulary as some writers

5.  number of blog followers

Satisfactions

1.  being published in multiple anthologies

2.  receiving positive comments from readers

3.  knowing I've touched the life of a reader

4.  the act of writing

5.  knowing that I'm fulfilling a life-long desire in my senior years

Making the lists is only the first part of this exercise. The next step is to do a little bit of analyzing. Ask yourself what you can do to ease some of the frustrating parts of your writing life. What can you do to keep the satisfying things going?  There are some frustrations that you can't control--for me, the waiting time to hear about  submissions. But maybe it's something that I need to accept as part of the game. Work on the ones you can control and accept those you can't. Remind yourself more often of the things are satisfying.