My deadline for the revision of my 40,000-word work-for-hire manuscript is this coming Friday, April 25. Even if I tried to keep working on this all day today (Saturday), and then all day tomorrow (Sunday), and then all through the week—keeping in mind I leave for my day job at nine in the morning and get home, at the earliest, at six at night—I still do not think I could physically manage to finish by Friday morning. If you saw the notes on the pages plus the additional notes in the revision letter, I think you would agree with me. It’s a matter of concentration, levels of energy, panicked inertia, and just a lot to do.

And yet…

Yet I’ve had plans with family this week. My mom came in Wednesday—we had a blast. It was worth missing a morning of writing, for sure. I want to spend time with e—we went on a walk to the pier last night; it was wonderful. And tomorrow I have a day trip to see my little sister; we’ve been planning this for weeks. I haven’t seen her since December.

On the one hand I have a deadline.

On the other hand—and it is the hand I happen to be favoring right now—I have a life and I want to, like, I dunno, try to actually live it. I want to see my sister tomorrow!

I think, seeing as it is very likely I couldn’t make the deadline of Friday, April 25, no matter how hard I try that I should still go see my sister.

Please say you agree. Would it help if I tell you that they haven’t paid me my first half of the advance due on signing yet, even though I sent the signed agreement back in February and I was counting on it to pay my taxes and I ended up having to temporarily pay the taxes on a credit card because otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to pay rent?

I’m going back to work on the revision now. Outside it’s a beautiful spring day. I want to live! I just have to finish this revision first.