Every summer, I set myself a deadline: I have to finish and submit a paper before school resumes in the fall. This push in the summer is absolutely necessary because it is an unbeatable opportunity: it is so much quieter at the library than during the rest of the academic year. I know that once classes start in September, the opportunities for writing will dry up almost entirely, and whatever I was working on will linger on unfinished, probably at least until the winter break.

This year, the start of the semester falls on September 9th, which is just over two weeks away. So the urgency is really weighing on me now. I do have a paper that could conceivably be finished in time, but it is behind schedule and far from done. So my plan is to truly lean into the grind over the short term. Aside from a visit to the tea shop in the afternoon for supplies, all I did yesterday was write. It may already be too late; the deadline may already be impossible, despite my best efforts. But I do know that I am going to push as hard as I can over the next two weeks to see what happens.

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