Howdy,
Today—with only 14,000 left to write—I start 3,000 words behind my pace.
There’s only about three weeks left in my year of writing 200,000 words, and I’m glad I had a lead on my word count before producing about a week’s worth of posts over the past three weeks. (I drafted “over the last three weeks,” but the last three weeks will be the next three weeks, and the failing to get the writing done has to be a thing of the past to wrap this goal up.)
I lay all that out less to talk about word count (a topic we’re all ready to leave in the past), and more to talk about rhythm. (We’ve talked before about how fast time flies when you’re not stopping to do your work—or how fast it flies regardless.)
I’m not a musician. So I’m talking a rhythm of living. And finding it.
It’s been hard since school started. In the sense of producing and being productive in particular endeavors, it’s been hard since Memorial Day Weekend, but that’s because of other opportunities over the summer and great family times and adventures and just a whole over rhythm in general.
That’s what makes finding a rhythm now hard. That’s what I’ve found.
The structure of the school year (with first-grader Jasper starting back) is good for getting mornings going but takes some rhythm searching. And Sarah back to school (work) shifts us further.
It was Jasper first, and then about three weeks later, Sarah. So our rhythm has been in flux, but now it’s been about a month. And it’s time to settle in. School has started. Work has started. GPS (small group) has started. CBS (Community Bible Study) has started. AWANA’s has started.
It’s busier now, and it’s Birthday Season: September 11th, 12th, 15th, 16th (x2), 30th. (Firstborn Jasper is seven in less than a week!) And October isn’t much different. In fact, it’ll be my birthday rolling around again that will set up and cement the 200K-word deadline.
I said time to settle in, but I mean time to get going. It’s been a good summer, but it’s time to get going. That’s why this “Finding a rhythm” theme is a two-parter (and maybe why they have such long titles). The crash of summer against fall and the tension it creates in transition is one thing; working your way to a better rhythm is another.
So tomorrow’s post is “Finding a rhythm, part 2: for a more intentional, disciplined and driven life and journey.”
—Billy
Reading. Writing. Living.
Word Count: 186,577 / On Pace: 189,200 / Year’s Goal: 200,000
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