Deadlines

Ten days and 23,285 words to go. I am feeling that crippling desperation that I have not felt since college. You know the one.

It didn't creep up until Sunday morning as you started writing the paper (due Monday) that you had outlined(in your head). Sometime after supper Sunday night as you were fighting with the rough draft, you became aware of the menacing sound of tribal drumbeats growing louder and more distinct. Late Sunday night, when you would like to have been going to bed, you were still struggling with the paper that had been beaten into a pile of rotten pulp by the devil's evil minions as they pounded away at the part of your brain that supplies rational thought.

Finally, many hours and tears later, exhausted and beaten, you placed together as many words in consecutive order as you could, hoping that they made more sense to your professor in the light of day than they did to you right then.

Here's to meeting goals and making deadlines. Happy Nano-ing!