Oh, Oprah

Well, I finally did it:  I made a vision board.  I sort of throw up in my mouth a little just thinking those words, let alone uttering them out loud.  It's something I guess Oprah dreamed up--of course--where you literally put your visions/dreams on a piece of paper.  The visual of having them written down is supposed to be encouragement for you to reach them.  My husband just told me his friend made a vision board and one of her visions was to be on Saturday Night Live and, well, the woman's on Saturday Night Live now.  So here's me slowly becoming a believer.  I'm a realistic person, so I know it takes more than doodling dreams on a piece of paper to bring them to fruition, which is why I'm here writing tonight.  My vision board consists mostly of writing a second book and finding a publisher for my second book as well as landing a full-time professor position.  Our baby #2 is due in a month, so writing and really everything has been put on hold.  Once he's here and I don't feel like every step I take is a horrific effort, then I know I can start tackling my goals again.  For me, being pregnant is much more draining and difficult than actually having a baby.  I can survive just fine waking up every few hours to feed a newborn.  I can't, however, survive easily when I feel like a bloated whale and walking up the stairs even feels like torture. 
Back to my point...I need to get published in small literary journals and magazines.  I put a goal of being published 7 times by next year on my vision board just to make it a definite goal.  If I can just do that, then it will make me a more credible writer, which will be attractive to potential agents, which will also be attractive to potential employers at universities.  I just need to get it through my thick head that I need to get that ball rolling or else this boulder of a writing career will continue to go nowhere.
But for now I have a fetus in my belly that's nearly sitting on my lap at this point and it's hard to think past anything beyond that.  Once he's out of the gate, I'm off and running.