I have two year-long projects running this year. I’m continuing to write two lines in a sonnet every day (with the goal of writing one each week). I’m also listening to all of Mozart. This week I officially triaged the Mozart project to make sure I’m going to finish. The odds look good. I’m somewhere around the K 430s (the numbers don’t go in exact chronological order so it’s somewhat complicated) and they go roughly to 600. That means I’m at least close to 75 percent done. I may need to push a bit but I got a bit behind during August. I’m not traveling so much through to the end of the year, and I’m better at listening when I’m in my daily routines.
If you, likewise, have any sort of yearly project, the beginning of Q4 is a great time to check in. Are you going to finish? What sort of pace will you need to keep to do that?
(There’s more about year-long projects, from reading War and Peace to listening to all of Bach in Chapter 3 of Big Time.)
In the meantime, here is another sonnet, called Portland in September:
It’s morning in the harbor, and the sky
is gray and streaked with lights — a golden brush
stroke lifts the flat horizon. Masts reach high,
as on a lone crabapple, there’s a flush
of autumn, and a fruit that, heavy, falls.
I’ve walked this path so many years. The boats
and warehouses are timeless. Seagull calls
greet every morning, but a leaf that floats
along the breeze hints at the coming cold.
The dark’s a little deeper day by day.
There is a bleakness hidden in the gold,
and chill within the sun that burns away
the mist as all the lobster boats come in,
all full of traps, and tales of where they’ve been.
My yearly project is 1000 minutes of running which I hit the first week of September. Signing up for a winter run club & actually running 3 times a week outside in Chicago in January & February made that much easier than anticipated!
@Sarah – good for you for getting such a good start on it in January/February – that took some work I am sure!