Yeah, I know. I post regularly for a week after a prolonged break, following a series of even more prolonged breaks, and I’m already warning that things are going to get bumpy.
The good and bad news is that this is a onetime event: The last Harry Potter book is coming out this weekend, and I’m simply clearing my schedule.
My long-stated goal was to reread all the previous Harry Potter books before starting the new one, which will be released Friday night/Saturday morning (depending on how strict they are at the book buying venue of your choice).
I’ve done this before, albeit the last time I was still in college (taking summer classes) and had a lot more free time.
There’s a trick in the timing, and the last time I messed it up. I started too early and ended up finishing the tomes with about a week and a half to go, which partially killed the rising anticipation I’d been cultivating. I also was not able to pick up the book at midnight, as I had the previous title (I had jumped on board the Potter train around the time the first movie and book four came out, meaning I missed out on some of the fretting over release dates).
After that, I pledged to be smarter with my pacing… and thus found a different way to mess up than previously experienced. Over the past month or two, whenever I’d finish a book, I’d find myself glancing over at the row of Potter books (sandwiched on the shelf between the copy of the Lord of the Rings trilogy I’ve never read and a better worn copy of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series). Thinking it was still too soon, I’d go looking for something else.
After getting back from the Houston trip, where I’d packed the British edition of the first Potter book my sister bought me while in London, I found I still hadn’t taken the time to start reading (having poured most of my reading time into a book on cultural collapses and the Dublin entry in the “Horrible History” series).
Then there was work, and chores to do, and getting stuff in line for the weekend.
Needlessly long story short, I didn’t start rereading the series until Friday morning at the laundromat.
Yep, you read that right. I’m trying to get all the books reread less than seven days, because there’s work and I’m acting night editor (which additionally requires me to come in early and stay a bit late if I want things to go smooth).
The line that divides being driven to being crazy is a fine one indeed. Of course, such a distinction is not really needed when you’ve blatantly gone over the line.
The plan still works on paper. I got a little bit ahead over the weekend even though I still stopped for church and a wedding and the community’s International Day celebration (in reverse order, actually).
I’m a fourth of the way through book five already, though we’ll see what the rest of the week has to bring.
So when it comes to posting… you see I’m already busy.
However, I’m still not writing it off yet (and time will tell if these words are extremely foolish).
I wrote dozens of pages of notes while on vacation. Most were on the trip, though I did get some creative writing done in addition to other projects. Also, I have some outlines of ideas I fleshed out before glancing at the countdown and going, “Yeah, I’d better get started…”
And after all, I have a finicky attention span. It’s not as short as I often say that it is (insert look-at-the-shiny-shiny-object-joke here), but I do welcome distractions.
So what I’m saying is that I’m aiming to make a tricky goal a touch more difficult than it always is. Why just cut through a minefield when you can dart through a minefield while juggling? Think of how much cooler that story would be to tell on the other side… or how much more spectacular the failure would be.
Hey, I just took a break that will put me about 100 pages behind when all is said and spellchecked. Apparently I’m already on track.
Hope to see you at the end of the Hogwarts Express line, where there may or may not be a train wreck.
Ronnie the Band Midget said...
Hey, Happy Day, birthday brother.