I been too busy lately to post anything since the election, but the dust is slowly clearing.   The parents and in-laws have gone home. The Christmas tree has been stripped bare and dragged to the curb. High School applications are finished.  It’s time to get down to business.

Recently, I read another Malcom Gladwell article in The New Yorker where he talked about how long it takes a person to master a skill. Most of the examples and anecdotes he cites escape me now, but I do recall him saying that it takes approximately ten thousand hours of practice to master something. Ten thousand hours broken down into something like eight hours of practice, seven days a week is roughly ten years.  If I apply that calculation to my novel, it means that I should be a master by June 15, 2009–which is exactly ten years since I left my job to write more or less, (but mostly more) full time.  I have approximatetely six months before I’m suppose to feel like I have some control over this writing life.  Geez, that’s a scary thought.  Nothing like a bit of Malcom Gladwell to put it all in perspective.