Noticed I didn’t blog yet this week? There are reasons for that. There’s this book that must get out the door. There’s this kid who has the same flu the other kid had last week. There’s this house that elves do not come to clean in the night. Ditto laundry. And parents are coming to visit, so I need to finish setting things up for that. (I mean, I could hand my mom clean sheets on arrival, but she’d probably rather I made the bed in advance)

My sprouts are starting to sprout, but the garden plot isn’t tilled yet. I have some dahlias to put in the flower beds, and the sprawling compost spot at the end of the lot needs to be turned into an organized compost pile plus a butterfly/hummingbird garden.

Plus there’s this new book by Patricia Briggs (Silver Borne) hitting shelves that I need to hunt down, and I still haven’t managed to snag the latest book by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (Wild Ride). My to do list might need a to do list, but reading can always be fit into corners and crevices of time.

This is actually true of everything; I stole 5 minutes to put up this blog post. I can revise at least a couple of pages in 5 minutes. (I read fast). I can write up to a page in 5 minutes. I can jot down scene notes or character or plot arc notes. I have my dahlias by the door with my trowel, so I can grab five minutes to plant them while the sick child sits on a blanket in the sun.

Five minutes can do a lot for you if you put them to work, even if you just spend that time writing down your to do list and figuring out what you can do the next time you have five minutes.