Good work session yesterday. Short, but productive. My workspace is complete now. I'll probably be investing in a 4 or 8GB thumb drive soon so I can fit ALL my Florida materials onto one mobile unit.
I'll be away from my desk for X-MAS break and New Year's, so Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
The Chiles family makes the Florida news, fighting for the ex-governor's legacy...
Miami Herald
McClatchy Washington Bureau
This coming Friday is the 10-year anniversary of Lawton Chiles' death.
A productive session yesterday; I logged in a series of articles on the Chiles' campaign finance reform package passed at the start of the governor years. I got bored with some of the primary source documents.
It called to mind the expression: "no surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader." I didn't throw them away of course; I simply put them in my "finished with them for now, but will review them one more time" pile. This operation is becoming more organized by the week. Documents that I truly feel ready to store away for perhaps one last final look after the manuscript is done I will put in a special marked plastic bin--once the pile gets big enough.
Thankfully, my desk is big enough now that I can sort documents with ease--no clutter, no wasted time.
I may be working fewer hours on the book these days, but one good hour is worth a thousand wandering ones.
All the remaining material for the book has been collected and tomorrow I'll add it to the "starter pack" I worked with two weeks ago. Ah the joys of the paper trail...I want to settle my accounts with the paper archive before I take up the interview trail once more.
Happy Thanksgiving.
I will resume book work next week. During Turkey Day I will be collecting the remainder of my files for transfer to my new workspace. These files include a rather crucial directory of contacts I compiled in Florida--as well as the bulk of my press clips.
It's now become settled law in my mind that my work sessions on the book should never, never last more than 5 hours (including lunch break) at a time. It's simple and predictable diminishing returns once you exceed the limit. Adding sloppy, unproductive time to the schedule hurts the book more than it helps.
This rule became obvious six months into the project in Florida. I saw it, I ignored it, and kept working.
I hope to never make that mistake again.
