Back when I was meeting with the life coach, he had me write up a list of goals that he told me to put up in my home office space, so I would always be reminded of the things I wanted to accomplish. He suggested I put professional goals as well as more fun, casual goals, to make the list less daunting. I liked this idea and so I did what he said. So, just now, while working on a piece of writing I just can't seem to get finished, I leaned back in my chair, glanced up and saw the list - black marker on a white index card - and was drawn to the first item:

Finish "For Whom the Bell Tolls."

And then I got all dejected. Because what exactly has happened to my mind that I can't complete the simple task of reading a famous, classic work of literature?

Fact is fact, though. And it doesn't look like I'm going to be finishing the book anytime soon.

I know that the point of the list isn't to make me feel bad. It's to make me feel inspired. So I might have to take it down and replace the goals with more realistic ones like, "write your own book" or "bake something."

But just to be fair to myself, I'd like to take a moment right now to remind everybody of that summer where I read "War and Peace." For fun, guys. Just for fun.