Photo credit: Monica Leonardi on Unsplash

And it’s been a week.

Granted, not every day has involved a lot of progress, but every day has involved non-work writing. So that means I’m halfway through the challenge and it’s primarily been successful.

So far, so good.

Looking ahead to Week #2: I expect the writing schedule to get a bit rockier. I have a brief due on the seventeenth which means as a practical matter that I need to have it finished by this Thursday, a goal that would be less daunting if I were further along (or if I had stronger arguments).

Also on Thursday evening, I start tai chi, which I signed up for because I’ve heard it’s good for balance and as people age, the risk of falls increases. I’ve never taken tai chi before; when I was looking into it, I called the town’s parks and rec department to confirm that it wouldn’t be too advanced for someone like me who has never taken such a class. The woman who answered the phone informed me that her coworker’s 90-year-old grandmother will be in the class. I assume this was meant to reassure me although if Grandma has been doing tai chi for forty years, it may mean I’ll be in way over my head.

Regardless, I can still carve out time to work on the book. This afternoon, I revised the new scene enough to know that it needs a lot more work. I still need to revise and rearrange the second half of the book. How I’ll manage all this in one week—on top of tai chi—remains to be seen.

On the other hand, if tai chi is all about balance, maybe I’ll also learn something about balancing writing with the rest of my life.