Not actually having read Moby Dick
As I pause a moment between deadlines and hear my dear wife repeating, “You’re overcommitted”; glance at my monstrous backlog of email and swallow a fluttering of panic; contemplate the three books* we’ve ushered through Popcorn Press in the past three months on evenings and weekends; consider how much WFOP business has been managed; and stare deeply into When Shadows Rise, the next major project on my home-office desk; the question naturally arises, “Are you friggin’ crazy?”
Well, yes. And no. Or more accurately, it’s a well-managed crazy. Yes, I’ve lost some sleep over the past several months, pushing projects to completion. But oddly, I wake the next morning feeling more energized than when I take things easy.
It is, I suppose, a matter of passions. If all you live for is another day of work followed by another night of TV, broken by a weekend of partying, that morning alarm can be pretty annoying. But if you come home to a cause you love, life takes on new meaning.
Don’t get me wrong; I thoroughly enjoy my day job. Sebranek Inc. is a happening place, full of engaging people working on great projects. It’s also a perfect spot to learn and develop new knowledges and skills, even at my age. It’s like a good German chocolate cake (my favorite).
This hobby stuff is the proverbial “icing on the cake,” rich with walnuts, bits of coconut, and whatever it is that makes up the glaze. These add variety to the chocolatyness of the daily cake itself.
But I digress. The point is passion. I tend to believe that working at something you believe in is more important than sleep. At least until you start hallucinating.
Or you nod off at your desk.
*Empty Shoes, Vampyr Verse, and the soon-to-be-released Fragmented Man.