Don't make me drag out the catalog cards

We’re going to start with a little game today. Please raise your hand if you know what a catalog card is. *counts hands*

If you did not raise your hand, a catalog card is a card inside a set of drawers at libraries. (Most libraries now just use computers. *scoffs* Amateurs.) You can look to see if they have a title you want, or an author you want, or what books are in a topic you’re researching, and where to find those books, and . . . yeah, it’s awesome.

This month, I began volunteer work at our church library. Basically, I sneak in there a couple times a week and work through this monstrous stack of books that was donated.

*rubs hands together* They asked for it.

But as I shelved the new books, I noticed there were several books on marriage and family in the singles section. The spine label said 248.84—that meant singles. But when I opened the cover and looked at the classification number printed on the inside, it said 248.844 or 5—for marriage and family. Whoever had processed the books had missed the last number—and that last number was so important!

By the ancient law of libraries, those books could not just sit there on a shelf where they didn’t belong. Something would explode, I was sure of it. So I pulled them out and prepared to fix it, and in so doing, save the world. This meant I had to retype and apply the spine label, correct the author card, correct the title card, correct the card pocket, and correct the sign-out card.

It would have saved me a lot of work had someone just processed them correctly in the first place. And it would have saved people who came to the library looking for that book a lot of frustration had someone just processed them correctly in the first place.

It got me to thinking about writing. (I know. You’re thinking, “Rachel, what doesn’t make you think about writing?” Hey, look, there’s a grass blade, that makes me think about writing.) More specifically, writing habits. What we are doing today is creating habits that we may follow for the rest of our lives. But what numbers are we typing on those habits? Is it the correct ones that God has printed out for us? Or is it our own classification ideas? Are the habits we’ve begun today just going to have to be fixed in the future?

Habits like:

                I know I should finish that article by deadline, but I’m going to work on this instead.

                I know I should be editing my book, but I’ll email my friends instead.

              I know I should get ready for this book proposal, but surely it won’t hurt if I write one more book first. You know, for good measure . . .

                I know I should start this newsletter, but . . . you know . . . computers are scary . . .

              I know I should start my first novel, but I also want to go skydiving, get a puppy, and break the world record for the longest handstand . . .

In the end, it will save you and others a lot of work and frustration if you just process your habits correctly in the first place. Talk with God about your writing habits. What habits do you want to keep? What habits do you want to change? How will your habits change this month?