Urgency Without Haste

A bit of news this week: I closed on a house in Detroit. It’s been a long process and it’s going to be longer still; there’s four-to-six months of construction before J and I can move in. I’ve been telling friends it doesn’t seem as momentous as expected – closing on a house. I suspect I might feel differently once it has new windows and an actual front door. I hope that you, dear reader, are ready for a summer of house metaphors.

I also have a deadline approaching for the first draft of the new manuscript: May 15, the same day See You in the Cosmos comes out in US paperback. You can pre-order today, from the usual places (Indiebound, Amazon, B&N). The list price is only $8.99, one of the marvels of children’s publishing.

Nearing deadline my writing sessions become longer and more frequent. My decisions are made for me instead of by; every fifteen minutes the word triage lights up in my head. No matter how much work I do in the months leading up, there’s always the same deadline rush. Maybe one day this will be different. I remember a line I wrote in a phone note long ago: Urgency without haste.

Back to work, back to work.