Feels good to be working on something tangible again
Ten days into working on the 1.10 update to Write Useful Books, it is such a pleasure to start each day with a single unambiguous top priority. To know, without question, where my first and best hours are to be invested. And to have a tangible destination in mind.
The concreteness might be key.
Some years ago, when I was repairing my boat, I spent a dreary couple months stripping and sanding the hull, grinding away in the boatyard for eight hours a day, every day. A full day’s work might be ten centimetres’ progress. And yet, I remember thinking how great it felt, because it was always ten centimetres forward. Progress could be seen and felt in a way that exploratory work never allows.
I’m normally nonplussed by exploratory ambiguity. I’m quite happy to focus on what I put in, come what may. To run the process, trust the soup. But I guess I’ve been operating in that hard-to-measure mode for a bit too long now. And working on something concrete feels a very welcome change.
Maybe I’m just reminiscing by taking shelter in a comfort task. That could be true! But it sure feels good.