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So, I'm writing a book.

Technically, I'm writing two books. One has a deadline and the other is dragging on. Guess which one I'm being paid to write?

The 'job' one may be taking precedence, but it's spurring me in to action on the fictional one and I'm about to set myself a deadline, just to get it finished. Obviously, that deadline will be way after the first.

What I'm learning, though, is the small chunks approach. Even a couple of paragraphs at a time is breaking the back of it. I'm so used to writing short articles that the prospect of a whole, published book is a little scary. So I'm not thinking of it like that. And the 'eating the elephant one bite at a time' thing seems to be working. Even as a vegetarian.

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