Why Tiny, Un-Sexy Goals Beat Audacious Ones, Even If You’re An Over-Achiever

Book Project Week One Update

Before doing any of the actual work (left) and today after completing chapter 1 and deadlifting 95 lbs (right).

What made me want to stop:

• An early snowstorm made me realize I decided to write a book during the hardest season for me — winter. Not the mild, rainy German winter of my childhood, but the brutal, freeze-your-tits-off Montana winter that lasts six months, gives me all kinds of anxiety and frequently makes me depressed. It gets dark so early. I have to wear pants like every fucking day. Choosing this winter season to write my book will bring me right up to my mother’s fifth deathiversary, when I’ll be done with my first draft. I didn’t plan it this way, when I made my decision to start writing, but this is a significant date to me, in part because my mother was also a writer and understands the struggle. Much of my book will include her, so I know it’s going to be a hard and deep writing experience, especially marking the last time I saw her and spoke with her before she died.
• Having to pay an unexpected household expense that completely cleaned out the small financial buffer I’d accumulated over the summer. That cushion made me feel slightly less irrational and irresponsible about devoting time every day to my personal writing. I wanted to stop and then acknowledged that I’ve never felt financially secure in my life…