I could have finished the novel yesterday, but I opted to hang out with my wife in the afternoon, instead.
People who live with writers are often better than the writers they support (and I do have a strong self-image…it’s just that my wife is rather badass!). In the last month or so, my wife has adapted to my changing schedules as I pushed to finish a readable draft of A Magic Life by month’s end. (I’m fortunate to share a life with someone who gives me time and space to write.)
Today I took the day off, because…well, when you see old blog entries and social media posts that keep coming back with, “Whew…so much overtime this month. I look forward to getting back to the novel!” and then…well, more overtime — sometimes you take a stand and work on the thing you most want to work on. (Fortunately, the managers I work with today are not the managers I’ve worked with in recent years…I didn’t pretend I was sick; I said, “Today, I will finish a novel. My duties are taken care of, so I’m taking a day off!”)
And so…this morning, at 10:42 a.m. Central Time, I finished a readable draft of the novel!
Obviously, there’s still sooooooooo much more work to be done, but today was a big enough day that I stuffed myself with red curry at lunch and had a couple wee glasses of bourbon this afternoon.
And now…an evening walk with my wife…
(Tomorrow I wake up and get right back to it before logging into work…)
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Photo: Zoltan Kovacs.
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