I know it can’t last. Tomorrow, I return to the world of the working, a world of meetings and obligations. But for just one more day, I get to enjoy the life of reduced obligations and increased freedoms. I can’t help but feel like a marathon runner, pushing hard even though I know the end is in sight.
So far this year (all five days!), I have written a minimum of 1,000 words a day. Minimum. Two days, I wrote closer to 2,000 words a day, and I have every expectation that today should fall somewhere in between. In fact, even if I stopped for the day now, I’ve already written 1,315 words today. Amazingly, I attribute a lot of it to twitter. I know it’s been around for a while, but this last week I stumbled into the #1k1hr hash tag. Usually, I don’t know the other participants, though a few times I’ve known their books. The peer pressure of twitter (such as it is) combined with a timer like focus booster, and the ability to suppress *all* notifications at will, have resulted in voluminous outputs in just an hour a day.
When I go back to work, though, my day will be less free. Technically I get a lunch break, but it’s rare that I actually get to see all of it. We don’t have a break area at work, and something about eating lunch at your desk usually translates into “I’m free to be interrupted while shoveling food into my mouth to handle whatever your crisis is.” Up to four hours a day commuting (on bad days) plus eight to ten hour work days leaves little time for hour long writing sessions, let alone the strength or energy for them.
But that 1,000 words a day is so intoxicating. With that kind of output I could be done with the first draft in a month. A month! I’m jittery just thinking about it. Or its the caffeine finally hitting my system, one of the two.
I must add, this streak was only possible thanks to my wife. The kids and I get breaks and “vacations,” but she, who deserves them, rarely does. Babe, you rock. I’m totally buying you a vacation if I ever sell one of these.
