Composition of Philosophy. July 20.

Yesterday’s draft, Chapter 3, ended up being the only draft shorter than it should have been. It was 11 pages rather than 13 or 14.

Whenever that happens, I know that my tank is empty, and I need to take a day off and relearn the joy of it. So, no work on the manuscript at all today. Either I will double up tomorrow, or I will fall one day behind– no matter either way, because I’ve left plenty of room in the schedule for blow-off days.

However… not complete blow-offs. There are two things worth doing on those sorts of days. One is to spend time with other people, which is always a good way to refuel. Or, if you’re spending the day alone, you can make a better outline for the next day. That’s a fairly low-stress thing to do, and one that is guaranteed to make things go faster the next day.