Rushing!

It's just occurred to me how little time I have left before WorldCon and how much I have to do. On Tuesday, I was thinking the week was going slowly and kept thinking it was Thursday, and now that it's Thursday, I find myself having the "it's Thursday already?" freakout. But I did take care of most of the pre-trip errands yesterday in a shopping expedition. While I was out, I also picked up one of those neck wrap things you microwave, and that was good for first thing in the morning when I woke up a little stiff. I popped it in the microwave and draped it around my neck while I made breakfast. I also got a memory foam contour pillow designed for side sleepers, with the roll on one edge that supports your neck. It has a similar effect as the weird candy cane pillow, but I can turn over and have it still work, and there's less claustrophobia. I think it worked pretty well once I got used to it, and the foam is very comfortable, but I wish they made these things in sizes because this was clearly designed for a man, so it didn't quite fit a small woman. The roll that goes under the neck was just a bit too tall and too wide for my neck. The foam does seem to eventually compress to fit, but it took a little time. I'm almost back to normal, with only some slight stiffness and no real pain.

Meanwhile, I discovered that the "curl definer" I finally found that was perfect for my hair has been discontinued, right as I started to get to the end of the tube I'd bought. This is why it's hard to have product loyalty -- you find something that works, and they discontinue it. Now I have to start all over again with the quest. I think this is going to be home spa weekend. I can use all those products I found in my bathroom decluttering and relax before going to WorldCon. In the meantime, I have to make a few arrangements for stuff, put together a few promo items, think about questions for the panels I'm moderating, plan my wardrobe, do a lot of laundry and take care of some other business stuff that's come up. It's a good thing I talked myself out of trying to finish a book draft by now.

Speaking of which, after talking yesterday about how long it takes to write a book, I found this blog post about a similar topic. Sometimes I get into the "rushing" mode and act like it's a race. Time becomes my area of perfectionism, and I don't seem to care what the result looks like as long as I can say I got to the finish line at a certain time. Sometimes hurrying through a rough draft can give a sense of urgency to the story, but sometimes it just means I'm going to have to rewrite the whole book because I didn't stop to think about it along the way. But since I've also had a bad habit of starting projects and not finishing them in the past, I'm always questioning myself if I do take my time or put something aside to see if maybe I'm afraid of finishing and having to do something with it. I think I'm actually at a point when I'm good about that now. Sometimes, a project shouldn't be finished, and you don't realize it's not viable until you start playing with it. Sometimes a project is worth tinkering with, even if it takes years to get it just right. In the case of my marathon book, I don't think there was fear, just the sense that it wasn't ready and knowing that sending it out before it was ready would shortchange the story. My days of writing two chapters and then moving on to the next shiny idea are long gone, and I think I've made more mistakes in the past ten years or so from either clinging to a non-viable idea for way too long out of stubbornness or from rushing to get something out there, so that what was submitted wasn't fully developed enough to show its potential. I'm at a point in my career when I need to let myself take my time, just as long as I'm making progress.

But for now, I must go get my oil changed and my car checked up before the road trip, and then on to more stuff to do.