A Few First Impressions

Some thoughts as the first morning of A Writing Year ends:

• Actually doing something I've always wanted to do is exciting, but also nerve-wracking. Sleep did not come easily last night as various doubts and anxieties careened across my mind like bats, dark shapes glimpsed then gone on wild paths.
  

• But, in the light of morning, five hours of uninterrupted reading / writing time feels really good. I read for about an hour (essays by Donald Hall), did some work on a new poem, typed up an older draft, researched Chicago literary events and a few authors, and went prospecting through an old journal for promising poems (I found about a dozen). I didn't feel rushed at any point, and in general the schedule I constructed seemed right. However, I may divvy up my morning reading hour into two 30-minute blocks, one for essays and one for poetry.

• That said, getting started on time is important. I stuck to my 7 AM start this morning but it would be very easy to let that slip. I'll do my best to submit to the tyrrany of the alarm clock.

• What a difference a pen makes. My wife got me a nice rollerball for Christmas and it makes me want to write more just for writing's sake. Fancy.