First I was busy because I was a freelance writer who wanted to cause the world to give me the support I needed to just write. Then I became a freelance writer who could write all the time. Then, a freelance writer who needed to pay for more things. And then I nearly died a couple of times over ten or fifteen years. So I should slow down, right? I’m coming up on the fourth anniversary of The Last Time I Nearly Died.

#1000mphclub says otherwise. I’m turning down jobs and throwing things overboard, more than I would like, making what are sometimes very difficult personal choices. I’ve only got the one body, and it’s going to start wearing out soon, and it’s already tried to die a couple of times. But you reach the point where work opens up opportunities that are only going to happen once. Therefore, I’m dropping out of the world to work on big projects with intense schedules on long timeframes. I am probably busier than I’ve ever been. I’ve left the house twice in the last week. I often go several days without seeing or speaking to another person. It’s a busy time.

(I just almost wrote “turn off, tune out, Dropbox,” which should illustrate just how ruined I am today.)

The concern in writing about work, writing this sort of thing – and I’ve been trying to hit this note in the newsletter – is that it presents like This Is The Only Way To Do Things, Join 1000mphClub Or Die. It becomes part of the Hustle Porn narrative.

I can only do these things by cutting things off and throwing things overboard and dropping out of the world. You, reader, do not have to do it like me. There are more ways of doing art and work than there are flowers under the sun. Pick the one that works for you. Live well and make great things in the method that suits you best. You don’t have to ruin yourself trying to fit into the stated processes of idiots like me who write on the internet to break up their days.

Glad we had this talk. If you’ll excuse me, my tracking system shows one of my execs opening emails, which means I have notes incoming…