Rush to Finish

My latest travel guide assignment had been going slowly. We’d gone on the trip to Cartegena, visited friends in Quito, and generally I had several days I did nothing on it. Then I had some computer and Internet connectivity issues, so more lost days. Then a friend of mine, and business associate, came by for two days to discuss some possible future projects and that killed more days. Thursday deadline was coming and I was still a long way to finishing it all up. Even though I wasn’t feeling that well, it was time for a writing blitz.

Most working writers do this from time to time. Heck, I’ve been doing this since I was a young reporter working on a weekly newspaper in Junction City, Oregon. I started writing and just kept going, and going, and going.

When the clock said 2:30 a.m. I was almost finished but needed some details I could only get off the Internet. So I hustled … staggered… to bed for a few hours of restless sleep. I was up by 6:00, took care of some household chores, then landed in the local Internet Café as soon as it opened, in fact, I had to wait ten minutes while they booted up their system. Then it was another hour to search for the information, finish writing the travel guide, and email it off as an attachment to the editor.

Now my brain is fried. I realized I didn’t eat breakfast and it is 2:00 pm, so I suppose
I should have some breakfast. I might follow that up with lunch. I’ll be a mess for the next 24 hours. But hey, the travel guide is done. I made my deadline (sort of) and I’m ready for the next project.

Just let me sleep.