Today is March 1st

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.  March 1 follows February 28.  Not a complex idea, unless it's leap year, and then March 1 follows February 29.  Luckily it's not leap year.  And yet, somehow, March has taken me by surprise.  There's a lot wrapped up in this month.

This is the last month of work before my self-imposed deadline to have a complete manuscript for beta readers.

I have 4 weekends of solid writing left before that deadline (5 if I cheat just a little) and one of them will be spent traveling.  With the exception of time on the plane, I probably won't get a whole lot accomplished over the weekend away.

There are four Fridays before it all hits the fan at the day-job: a major workload lands on my desk, my boss goes on paternity leave, and I'm managing a new staff person.  (This was a big part of why I set my manuscript deadline for the end of March; April will be stressful and I won't get much writing done).

March is a writing month.  I have to get it done, there's just no alternative.  The pressure is invigorating, as it forces me to pull my thoughts (and myself) together.  I'm looking forward to finishing the manuscript and finding out whether people like it, even though I guarantee the end result will be more work.  After all, what's the point of having beta readers, if not to incorporate their feedback?  But I'm hopeful that the last year and a half spent writing and re-writing this particular novel won't be left gathering dust on the virtual shelf.

Okay, that's enough musing on the date.  Time to get to work!