To recap last week: I found out a very special colleague died, then my computer died, then our neighbor died dramatically… there was a whole lot of other morbid details mixed in with all that but there are the Cliff Notes.

All this got me thinking. I’d just finished Tortured Willows. I knew my poor computer was having issues and I kept requesting it “just make it to Specfaire.” It did. It crapped out right at the first event. I should have requested my computer make it until after Specfaire. I managed to finish the day on my phone since most events were pre-recorded. Now that it was all done and I was nearly computer-less I faced a void. What did I do now?

Things got more intense the day the neighbor died. He was a younger guy. My brain seems to be stuck on this loop wondering if he got everything done he wanted to… and what would those be? And more pertinent to myself, what would I regret not getting done?

For me, the answer is writing. It’s also what I almost never have time to do lately. There is so much to be done around writing I barely get to the creation part anymore, or if I do it’s a rush. With my computer being replaced I’m on a laptop with limitations. I only have one monitor, more than 5 tabs open start lagging it. Photoshop is painful and Quark impossible. I’m putting everything on hold while I revaluate, replenish and replace.

How to find out what’s important: strip it all away and see what you miss most.

By Angela Yuriko Smith

Angela Yuriko Smith is a third-generation Ryukyuan-American, award-winning poet, author, and publisher with 20+ years in newspapers. Publisher of Space & Time magazine (est. 1966), two-time Bram Stoker Awards® Winner, and HWA Mentor of the Year, she shares Authortunities, a free weekly calendar of author opportunities at authortunities.substack.com.

2 thoughts on “HOW TO FIND OUT WHAT MATTERS”
  1. “How to find out what’s important: strip it all away and see what you miss.”

    Miss MOST, don’t we mean? MOST might be a potty. Oh dear, you didn’t mean that. 😀

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