If you keep a blender going, the ingredients swirl and combine until you have a product that looks little like its original parts. But if you shut off that blender, and you let the pitcher sit there for a few hours, something will usually settle to the bottom . . . or float to the top.

Someone asked me in a Zoom meeting not long ago how I juggled my life. I sounded energized, which was probably more nerves from presenting, but still, they asked and wondered how I did all I did. I do not see myself that way, but I pondered a second and said that I know what my priorities are in life, and when something comes along that detracts from that, I decline it.

Someone in a chat asked me who does the cleaning and cooking first to gain those hours of writing, those times when someone can write their 1,000 words a day that I preach. I clean when someone visits or I tire of looking at it, because my writing is a higher priority. I cook when I have a desire to. Elaborate meals are only for special occasions . . . because I have to write. If I’m on a roll writing and do not care to take much of a break, my husband knows he is on his own (and will often bring me something).

Instead of looking for time to write after I’m done with other things, I have to ponder time to do other things once the writing is done.

We remain blenderized when we let ourselves see all these other activities in our lives be just as important as our goals or passion. As a result, you cannot see your goals or passion, because they’re all mixed up in the other stuff.

Sometimes I sit on the front step of my house in the morning, listening to the birds, studying where the squirrel nests are, smelling what may be blooming in the woods. I also think about writing. Just this week, that 20 minutes of quasi-meditation told me to insert Quinn’s dog Bogie in a scene in the new third series and have him pay particular attention to one guy who was present. It made the scene more human, and she used the dog to brush her hand against the man. It wasn’t much, but it mattered and only came about because of the calm of the moment.

You might be surprised at how many things in your life are not necessities. Decide what’s important and let it lead you. Just remember that the more things you pack into your day, the more they mix together, and the less any one of them can be seen as your passion.