The end is nigh for the completion of the first draft of my current novel. Instead of focusing laser-like on pounding out each of the approximately 10k words I have to go, I am daydreaming about all of the things I want to do during the four-week cool off period before I start the second draft.

1. Write at least four short stories.
2. Finish The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You’re Not by John Vorhaus. (I started doing his exercises for fun around a month into my first draft, but stopped because I thought they deserved my full attention. I can’t wait to be funny.)
3. Submit one of the aforementioned short stories to a suitable literary concern for publication.
4. Read The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell. (This was the first textbook I’ve read where I was sorry when the sample chapters were finished. He’s got some fascinating things to say about game design to be sure, but also more generally about capturing experience and realizing your creative vision.)
5. Make large pillows for our couch to support my decrepit old back.
6. Write a blog post every weekday.
7. Find a RPG for PS4 that I can play with my woefully lame controller skills.
8. Ingress: Level 8

I’ve got more I can squeeze in. I know it.