Print, print, print...

It's noisy in my office today, and my file cabinet is shaking. No, nothing too interesting or intense is going on. But I am printing out the entire contents of my book. I use "fast draft" mode to save ink, and my printer tends to rock on the filing cabinet that it calls home.

I've printed out chapters as I've worked on them, but only once did printed the entire thing in one sitting. But now that I have only 11 days until the book is due, I'm going to do another "state of the union" and make a list of absolutely everything that needs to be done, from what pictures are missing, to what hours of shops need to be double checked, to any formatting that has to be taken care of, to making sure I have a big enough box to mail the thing to my publisher.

I'm calmer than I expected I'd be. I don't know if that'll be the case next weekend. Today I've been mentally and physically preparing myself for the next week-ish ahead -- I did my laundry so I'll have clean clothes next week; went food shopping so I'm not scrounging for meals or tempted to get take out; prepared batches of good-for-me dishes that will stay good and fresh in my fridge for the next week; ran so I won't feel guilty if I miss a workout or two; cleared off and cleaned up my dining room table, which will become my work surface (I have no idea why I like to write at kitchen and dining room tables -- it's just the way it is. And it lets me spread out); and I've been cleaning my house so that I don't feel like I'm working in a hovel and also to prevent me from worrying about cleaning it when I have more important things to do. I also wrapped up any freelance projects I had left; wrote and mailed over due thank you notes; picked up thank you gifts that'll be handed out after the book is done; paid bills; and now I'm going to read through any magazines left in the "to be read" pile.

I hope all this will help me when I go through the sprint toward the finish line. If not, well, I can always sleep through September.

What I'm Listening to: The Life Pursuit by Belle and Sebastian.

P.S. And if you're wondering what ever came of that second book I mentioned, well, I turned it down. It wasn't the right project for the right terms. I'll write more about that later...because I know you were so worried about it.