Project Albatross
Day 0 – Sunday, September 25 – 1,093 reviews to go – A statement of intention
Literary conventions are great for inspiration, but few of them lead to scrapping plans for a novel.
As I’m writing this, it’s barely ten o’clock and I’m wiped out — the happy and expected result of a weekend spent at Congrès Boréal, the annual French-Canadian conference for writers, reviewers and readers of science-fiction, fantasy and horror literature. It’s my home convention — I haven’t missed a single one since 1995 and it’s, in some way, part of my own “third place” away from family and work. Since the event is filled with trusted friends, it’s a place where I can bounce ideas off people who understand where I’m coming from.
I joked to a few people that I was going to use them for “rubber ducky project management” and did exactly that. Here’s the situation I outlined, in two complementary points:
- I often write a novel in November. Nothing fancy, nothing worth publishing — just a creative outlet in which I create a novel in thirty days without self-editing or excessive worries about the material being good enough. While I have spent the past few months kicking around an idea for this year’s novel, I don’t feel as if it’s fully cooked yet. I have a theme, characters, a rough beginning, the opening and closing lines, an idea of the areas I want to explore and plenty of clippings — but I don’t have the spark needed to spend thirty days on writing the entire thing. I could force myself in the next thirty-some days to sit down, detail ideas, break down the structure and hammer an outline into shape, but that could go spectacularly wrong and result in a full scratch come November. Meanwhile…
- …I have an albatross hanging around my neck: Roughly 1,093 unwritten film reviews for movies I saw in 2020 and then 2023. For good reasons (2020: global pandemic; 2023: house fire leading to lengthy renovations), I was out of writing energy those two years and so my quick-and-rough viewing notes for the films I saw during that time have never been transformed into a finished capsule review. I have many unfinished projects, but this one definitely weighs on me: An unfinished 2020 prevents me from publishing later reviews, and 2023 is something I’ve been meaning to finish for a while but haven’t done so — in large part because there’s 2020 nagging at me. This is also having a knock-down effect on everything else, including fiction writing: Why should I spend any time on the novel when there’s a major writing project to complete?
Having run both of those ideas by my rubber ducky audiences only reinforced something I was toying with prior to the convention:
I’m not doing NaNoWriMo this year. I am not writing a novel this year.
I hate to say it, but there’s the deal: As of tomorrow, September 23, I will start working to get rid of that albatross. I will finish those 1,093 reviews (plus any other new film seen during that time) and by January, I will be free of that weight. I would ideally like to finish it on December 30th so that I can ring in the new year without that nagging feeling (and then spend January-March editing five years’ worth of reviews) but let’s be realistic: This would mean writing eleven reviews per day, which is not really a sustainable rate over a hundred days.
Still, I have to start somewhere. As of tomorrow: No zero days.
Day 1 – Monday, September 23 – 1,083 reviews to go (-10) – Estimated Completion Date (ECD): January 8.
Fair beginning. Sat down and wrote, and that’s all there is to it. Trying not think too hard about chipping away at one percent of the total, but at least it’s one percent down.
Day 2 – Tuesday, September 24 – 1,077 reviews to go (-6). ECD: January 9
Yikes — not great day, and I’m already falling behind. I may have an excuse (I had 90 minutes less due to a non-profit organization meeting), but the truth is that this will not be easy…
Day 3 – Wednesday, September 25 – 1,066 reviews to go (-11) – ECD: January 9
Well, this is more like it: eleven reviews completed, which is slightly more than the maintenance average. Ideally, I’d be able to sock away a few more reviews every day to make up for any interruptions that are sure to happen at some point, but I’ll take maintenance over losing ground on any given day.
Day 4 – Thursday, September 26 – 1,054 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: January 8
Twelve reviews down (four of them easy, as they were films I’d seen in the past month) despite taking two hours off this evening to attend a vernissage, and my overall motivation is pretty good right now. Gaining ground on the ECD feels good! I’d like to sock away a double-sized twenty-reviews day or two this weekend, but let’s be cautious about being too cocky.
Day 5 – Friday, September 27 – 1,042 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: January 8
A relaxed Friday evening, and twelve reviews down. Twelve is a nice number for a weekday. I like twelve. I should aim for twelve. Twelve will help me create a buffer against less-inspired days. Tomorrow will be too busy to be a great day for reviewing, but let’s see if we can do another twelve.
Day 6 – Saturday, September 28 – 1,030 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: January 8
Another 12-review day — not bad, and this despite a late start. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a double-load day.
Day 7 – Sunday, September 29 – 1,010 reviews to go (-20) – ECD: January 7
Whew — a good day since I could devote more time to it. One milestone: At my current average of twelve reviews per day (which I’m unlikely to sustain, but let me take in a piece of good news), I’m now scheduled to finish on December 21st. It won’t happen (the more conservative Estimated Time to Completion in the daily title is based on completing 10 reviews per day), but it’s encouraging.
Day 8 – Monday, September 30 – 987 reviews to go (-23) – ECD: January 6
Wow! As expected, this has been a very productive three-day weekend. THe ECD went down by a day, which is the whole point of double-load days. It even went better than listed above, since I completed two more September 2024 reviews that weren’t counted in my 2020/2023 backlog. Two milestones today: Cracking the sub-1000 barrier, and completing reviews for October 2023. If things go well, I may be able to wrap two more months in the next two days. I’m even going to sleep early tonight.
Day 9 – Tuesday, October 1 – 976 reviews to go (-11) – ECD: January 6
New month, new milestone: Finished the reviews for March 2020, a particularly meaningful month. Tomorrow may not be a good day considering that I will have less computer time yet want to complete two (longer) book reviews to wrap up reviews for September 2024.
As a bonus: I keep referring to this effort being about transforming my notes into complete reviews. What does that look like? Here’s an example from today, about Nine Months (1996). First, the spur-of-the-moment notes with intact typos:
(On TV, March 2020)New baby comedy from the popint fo view of the helpless (hapless) father. Julianne Moore in a early cutie role – in fact, with Joan Cusak who get a two-for-one cute redhead bonus. Hugh Grant well-used. Sitl, the film has problems striking a consistent toen between the universality of its premise and the wild comic extremes of some sequencesx. The lead character is remarkably clueless even for comic effect. My suspension of disbelief snapped a few times, from character action to simple physics (you can’t suddenly be hit by a swing)
Now here’s the completed review after a bit of research, contextualization, word-smithing and further thoughts (still subject to further editing prior to upload on the web site):
(On TV, March 2020) Writer-director Chris Columbus’ assignment on Nine Month was simple: turn in a slightly hysterical portrayal of a commitment-phobic young man in the process of becoming a father. Whether he succeeded is debatable. There are certainly good arguments in favour: Hugh Grant is in full befuddled floppy-raised butterfly-blinking mode here, almost sending up his own early-career persona. If you care about cutie redheads, there’s a young and soft Julianne Moore, plus Joan Cusak as an unexpected bonus. A strong supporting cast includes Tom Arnold, Jeff Goldblum and Robin Williams going an Eastern-European schtick. The film is luminously shot in beautiful San Francisco, and has a few amusing comic moments. Alas, it’s not all good, and what’s not good arguably overwhelms the rest. Columbus has significant problems striking an even tone between the universality of its premise and the wild comic extremes of some sequences. Much of the character drama that should emerge organically seems instead contrived through characters who make dumb choices because the script requires it to prolong the tension. Even for comic effects, the protagonist seems remarkably clueless. Suspension of disbelief snaps a few times, whether it’s from perplexing character actions, or even simple physics. (No, you can’t be suddenly hit in the face by a swing you’re casually pushing.) Nine Months tries hard, a probably too hard: it tries to take two directions at once and ends up confused about what it was trying to do.
Tomorrow we dive back into the depths of early-pandemic movie-binging with April 2020, a month in which I still have a staggering 110 reviews to write — the most of any month left to complete, albeit closely followed by May 2020’s 105 reviews to complete.
Day 10 – Wednesday, October 2 – 964 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: January 5
While I wasn’t able to finish the book reviews needed to wrap up September 2024, I did write my dozen reviews (even if I finished far too late) and, as a reward for my pacing so far, saw my expected completion date tick down one day to January 5. Let’s keep this up!
Day 11 – Thursday, October 3 – 954 reviews to go (-10) – ECD: January 5
Meet my daily minimum objective of ten reviews today rather than the dozen I’m usually aiming for, but that’s not a defeat — I also wrote two lengthy book reviews and thus completed September 2024. Of course, now I have to start October 2024…
Day 12 – Friday, October 4 – 942 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: January 5
Another baker’s dozen today — and I say that because if I knocked off an acceptable 12 reviews from the total, I also wrote a thirteenth review of a film I saw earlier this week, effectively beginning the count for October 2024. Now that the weekend begins, I don’t expect to do much more than the minimum on Saturday — but Sunday should be better.
Day 13 – Saturday, October 5 – 938 reviews to go (-4) – ECD: January 6
Oof, not a good day. Contrarily to what you may expect, Saturdays are not good days for writing: Late morning start, early afternoon work outside the house, late afternoon errands, early evening with the family only leaves late evening to write, and that can go outside the window if you have anything intruding on that window of time. Anyway: four reviews down, which is not good (and my expected completion day just went up a full day) but at least not a zero day.
Day 14 – Sunday, October 6 – 920 reviews to go (-18) – ECD: January 5
Much better day. Started earlier, and while I did not fully concentrate on reviewing in-between various household chores, at least today’s total slightly rehabilitates yesterday’s underwhelming work . (And I disposed of no less than four reviews of 1980s Italian horror films, which are not my favourites to write at all.) I also wrote one review for October 2024 that’s not included in the -18 — I can’t completely stop watching films for three months! Estimated Completion Date just ticked back one day, and my daily average is once again over 12 reviews per day. If anything, this weekend illustrated what happens when even one day is missed — it takes a heroic effort to compensate. Let’s stay steady, especially as I anticipate major setbacks between October 16-20.
Day 15 – Monday, October 7 – 908 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: January 5
A good day today, with a baker’s dozen of review: 12 to slay the backlog, and one more to take in the film I saw today. A couple of milestones are on the horizon: getting under the 900-review mark hopefully tomorrow, and finishing April 2020 later this week. If all continues to go well — I had a pretty good day today because my notes were in good shape, but I can’t guarantee that for the rest of the run.
Day 16 – Tuesday, October 8 – 896 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: January 5
Another good day today: I not only wrote 12 reviews and broke through the 900-reviews mark, but also saw and reviewed two other films. While my ten-reviews-a-day objective says completion by January 5, my twelve-reviews-a-day average (which won’t hold!) suggests I may be done by December 20, which makes for a nice cushion.
Day 17 – Wednesday, October 9 – 887 reviews to go (-9) – ECD: January 5
Not that good of a day — the only reason I managed nine reviews is that I was working from a streak of near-complete notes that could be easily finalized as a finished review. I suppose I was distracted by some errands and media coverage of Hurricane Milton’s landfall near Tampa Bay. I have better hopes for tomorrow, but we never know: they’re announcing a good chance of visible auroras tomorrow, and that may take a chunk of time away from the keyboard.
Day 18 – Thursday, October 10 – 876 reviews to go (-11) – ECD: January 5
Eleven reviews today, and this in spite of (in the span of six hours), going to a school function, running errands for this weekend’s home renovation project, and driving out to a rural spot to see some amazing auroras. (Spanning the sky, and bright enough that we could see the red and green colours with our own eyes.) Most of today’s rapid writing was due to having some notes near-ready to call a final review. I won’t always be so lucky, but I might as well enjoy it while it happens.
Day 19 – Friday, October 11 – 862 reviews to go (-14) – ECD: January 4
It’s way too late, but it is the Friday before a long weekend, I’m not going anywhere in the next three days, and I wasn’t going to finish the night (though I wanted to) with less than a handful of reviews to complete before wrapping up April 2020. So it is done: another month completed, with 12 more to go. Another positive sign: moving the Expected Date of Completion needle one notch down to January 4 if I stick to ten review sper day. (Or December 20 if I keep my current 12-reviews-a-day average, which I won’t.) If nothing else, Project Albatross already means almost 250 reviews down. Tomorrow, we tackle May 2020, our single biggest remaining month with 105 reviews to complete. Fortunately, I just peeked at the file and it looks as if the vast majority of those reviews already have extended notes, almost ready to be finalized. I may breeze through that month, but we’ll see.
Day 20 – Saturday, October 12 – 852 reviews to go (-10) – ECD: January 4
Once again, it’s far too late to complete my daily quota, but here we are — it was a big day for home improvement work around the house (well, mostly above the house considering that it was all about eavestroughs) and I ended up taking a substantial nap during the early evening. Fortunately, today’s batch of reviews could rely on fairly complete notes, so we’re once again down ten reviews. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.
Day 21 – Sunday, October 13 – 834 reviews to go (-18) – ECD: January 3
While eighteen reviews down is a respectable total, it’s a bit of a disappointment considering that I had the entire day to do it and only seriously started after five o’clock. One day, i will figure out why I write better against my back against the wall of the schedule, racing post-midnight to complete some arbitrary objective — in this case, clawing down my Expected Completion Date by one day. But what’s done is done! I have to put some gas in the reviewing tank in anticipation of a few tough days at the end of this week. Let’s hope tomorrow goes a bit better.
Day 22 – Monday, October 14 – 812 reviews to go (-22) – ECD: January 2
Look at these numbers. Just look at them. Great day, today — knocked down 22 reviews, and brought the Expected Date of Completion one day closer (or gave myself another day’s worth of buffer). Despite the hiccup on Saturday, this has been a great long Thanksgiving weekend. I also packed up for this week’s trip, and tested the technology stack that should keep me productively occupied during a few evenings spent in a hotel. (I’ll describe the rig later this week, if it works — it’s not a laptop as much as a patched-up collection of gadgets.) Can we get under the 800-review mark tomorrow before leaving?
Day 23 – Tuesday, October 15 – 799 reviews to go (-13) – ECD: January 2
Mission accomplished! Broke through the 800-review threshold before midnight with a baker’s dozen of reviews (some of them curt, but all of them DONE). Now, I’m off to sleep — my bags are packed, and tomorrow takes us somewhere else entirely.
Day 24 – Wednesday, October 16 – 789 reviews to go (-10) – ECD: January 2
Another city, another country — I’m writing this far from home in Niagara Falls, NY — site of this year’s World Fantasy Convention. Of course, this is no excuse not to keep working on Project Albatross, and getting ten reviews done today was in adventure in more ways than one.
- First: I had to bring some technology with me in order to write in the hotel room, and that took the form of my “canvas computer”, a Raspberry Pi 5-based modular system wrapped in a canvas tool bag that gets me basic word-processing and web access: more than enough to keep on writing.
- Then: I had to set up the technology in my hotel room, taking advantage of the HD TV as a monitor but requiring some ergonomic adjustments to be able to use the eye-level TV. Which is how I ended up with a standing desk using the room’s ironing board. (Don’t laugh: it works pretty well.)
- Fortunately: Not having much to do in a city I didn’t want to explore after nightfall, I ended up in my hotel room at 19:30 and immediately started writing, quickly logging five reviews and crowing that I may have an early night or a higher-than-usual total.
- Alas: Disaster struck in the form of a power adapter falling out of its socket, and the canvas computer not having a battery and the word processor not making automated backups. An hour later… I had re-written the five reviews from memory and eventually made my way to ten reviews in time for midnight. That’s more than enough considering the big day ahead of me tomorrow. I may not be back in my room as early tomorrow, but hopefully I’ll be able to keep what I write. (I’m now saving after each completed review — I was clearly spoiled by Word and my home UPS.)
Otherwise, tourism highlights quickly noted down for future expansion: Left home at 9:15, was on the road at 10:00, no wait nor trouble at the border; stop at Waterford for some lunch (Red Arrow burger; hits the spot) groceries for breakfast and evening snacks (plus one wild Little Golden Library book called “A for Alien” offering a cuddly kid’s version of the first Alien movie); another stop at the Juniper Ponds rest stop; arrival in Niagara Falls in time for 17:00; some wandering to see the falls from the US side; a stop by the monolithic Seneca Casino, where I ran into two long-time acquaintances in the SF&F world; fruitful stop at the 7/11 for a few perishables; unfruitful attempt to have supper at a nearby restaurant; return to the hotel room for snacks and writing reviews.
Day 25 – Thursday, October 17 – 785 reviews to go (-4) – ECD: January 3
(Written the day after) Ooh, not a good day. Well, yes, a good day on the tourism front, but not so much on the reviewing front: After a full day of walking around for tourism and attending the early hours of the convention, I wrote two reviews early in the evening before going out to attend the convention’s opening ceremony and take nighttime pictures of Niagara Falls, came back to my hotel room at 22:00, wrote two more reviews and then crashed for the night. Can we do better tomorrow? At least this wasn’t a Zero Day.
More tourism highlights: Eerie crossing of the Rainbow Bridge at 9:30 in full sunlight but with no one else in sight. After some exploration of Clifton Hill, I joined up with my brother-in-law and we went to Tunnels Behind the Falls, then the Power Museum, then took the bus to downtown Niagara Falls (Queen Street) for affordable lunch, then went to the Butterfly Conservatory (not in initial plans, but always great), then headed back to the US side for the convention. Attended a panel, looked through the dealers’ room, then… the rest of it you saw above, including a second trip to Canada on the same day. Did not have any problem at customs, though. 31,362 steps according to my iPhone. Tomorrow, if my poor feet can handle it; a bit more tourism on the US side.
Day 26 – Friday, October 18 – 777 review to go (-8) – ECD: January 3
A somewhat better day, although not back up to my usual speed. After a full day of tourism and convention-going (ending at 21:00), I returned to the hotel room to see what I could complete in-between complaining about my feet (that plus the standing-desk arrangement isn’t working after an entire day walking around!) and sneaking peeks at one of the books I bought earlier today. Still: 8 reviews is not that bad and I’m not planning on being at the convention this late tomorrow — will we knock down the final 20 reviews for May 2020?
Tourism/Convention highlights: Walked to and around Goat Island for a peek at the waterfalls from the US side and got great pictures of rainbows; went to the Aquarium – it’s small, but it’s not that expensive. Spent the rest of the day at the convention, attending decent panels, getting one book from the Dealers’ Room (The Last Dangerous Visions, finally in print) and having a few conversations with old acquaintances. Went to lunch at Donatello’s Pizzeria (the one I unsuccessfully tried to go on Wednesday), attended the convention’s mass autograph event. 18,810 steps.
Day 27 – Saturday, October 19 – 764 reviews to go (-13) – ECD: January 2
A few good news today: Taking advantage of an early end to the convention (one event in the evening, uninteresting to me), I left the convention centre, stopped by the nearest 7/11 for sugar, and went back to the hotel room for a few hours of writing. The result is an above-average day: 13 reviews down and we’re back to an estimated completion date of January 2 after the last two days’ slackening. I am slightly disappointed that I wasn’t able to do 20 reviews, as this would have completed May 2020. While this remains possible tomorrow, I don’t want to make promises I won’t be able to keep, since I expect that I’ll want to decompress after getting back home. We’ll see how the traffic goes on our way back!
Tourism/Convention highlights: Not much by way of tourism: While my feet felt much better this morning, I had pretty much seen what I wanted to see in Niagara Falls, NY yesterday and spent the day as planned at the convention. Dropped a few dollars in the Dealers’ room for three interesting books (including one massive collection not available through Amazon), had lunch with a favourite author, attended more good panels, and had supper at the Seneca Casino’s rather decent hamburger joint.
Day 28 – Sunday, October 20 – 761 reviews to go (-3) – ECD: January 3
Oof. Not a good day, albeit for factors not entirely under my control nor unpleasant: The way back home from Niagara Falls, NY was longer than I expected, and my arrival home was later. Parking in my garage a few minutes before 22:00 and having a number of things to unpack, check or update, I only settled for some writing at 11:00. I still did three reviews (no zero days!) in a far more comfortable environment than a hotel room stand-up desk, but still this is my worst day so far. It does rankle that I’m four reviews away from wrapping up May 2020. I’m not sure I’ll be able to do spectacularly well tomorrow, but at least I’m back home!
Day 29 – Monday, October 21 – 757 reviews to go (-4) – ECD: January 4
Eek, things are not going well in Albatross-land. I do have my excuses, though: returning from work by walking took out two hours out of my evening, and attending to the things to be done now that I’m back home sucked even more time away from reviews. Still, one landmark today: Being done with May 2020. June 2020 is next, and while it’s a long month with 92 reviews to complete, a lot of them have near-complete notes. Right now, though, my focus is on getting a good day done tomorrow, because Wednesday is not going to be conductive at all to a lengthy writing session.
Day 30 – Tuesday, October 22 – 750 review to go (-7) – ECD: January 4
Maybe a good day, maybe not — the number speaks for itself, but I did write two more reviews of two films I watched today, plus a nap, plus a few other things still catching up over the last weekend. Tomorrow’s going to be worse, though. I’ll explain.
Day 31 – Wednesday, October 23 – 745 reviews to go (-5) – ECD: January 5
Five reviews may not seem like much, and that Estimated Date of Completion gets worse every day, but considering the circumstances of the day this was a triumph. I promised I’d explain, so here goes: I was away most of the evening to attend a book launch in Montréal, which meant more than three hours getting there (one of them stuck in traffic), a few hours there, and slightly more than two hours getting back. Considering that, it’s not a bad show to report five reviews down anyway. As of tomorrow, though, I have to get back into shape and pump that average up because this week has been terrible so far
Day 32 – Thursday, October 24 – 735 reviews to go (-10) – ECD: January 5
All right, let’s get this show back on the road. While today’s ten reviews is nothing worth crowing about, it is a solid average number that stops the bleeding and makes some headway in the remaining count. Let’s see if we can do as well tomorrow.
Day 33 – Friday, October 25 – 729 reviews to go (-6) – ECD: January 5
No, not good. While I do have excuses (running errands and coming back home late), that’s not going to cut it if I don’t meet my daily targets.
Day 34 – Saturday, October 26 – 713 reviews to go (-16) – ECD: January 4
Oh yeah, that’s the kind of day that I like. Despite completing an amazing number of errands and outdoors tasks in anticipation of winter, I’m now sixteen more reviews down and I did it the old-fashioned way: sitting down after supper and just typing away until some arbitrary milestone. In this case, my Expected Completion Date is down by one day, my average number of reviews is trending up, and I’m within reasonable striking distance of having fewer than 700 reviews left by the end of tomorrow. Wish me luck… and determination.
Day 35 – Sunday, October 27 – 698 reviews to go (-15) – ECD: January 4
Another great day, despite a late start due to errands — I sat in my chair at the beginning of the evening and typed away until I reached a good number. (It helped that I had some near-complete notes to work with.) The obvious milestone today is getting under 700 reviews left to write, but I also improved my daily average and am within reasonable distance of further improving the Expected Completion Date. Reviewing my notes, I also made a discovery that will have an oversized impact later this week — but not today, as I wanted to put the spotlight on some good solid work.
Day 36 – Monday, October 28 – 686 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: January 4
A decent double-digit day today — although I got distracted by a few other things and ended up napping a few minutes in front of the computer. At least I’m meeting my targets and keeping at it. I’m a third done by now!
Day 37 – Tuesday, October 29 – 676 reviews to go (-10) – ECD: January 4
A bit of a disappointment today — I was set to do much more than my acceptable minimum, but two sudden errands distracted me and I ended up just squeaking by ten more reviews written. I don’t have high hopes for tomorrow.
Day 38 – Wednesday, October 30 – 660 reviews to go (-16) – ECD: January 3
While today’s result looks impressive, I can’t quite take credit for it: A random series of errands had me begin late and honestly hammer out eight reviews. But then I went peeking into another month’s notes and stumbled upon another eight reviews that were almost finished except for a bit of spell-check and editing. Having added those to today’s total makes it all look even more impressive, but let’s just say that today was okay. Tomorrow’s Halloween, and I honestly can’t guess whether this is going to be good or not for reviewing. If nothing else, I have an incentive to get to 12 reviews, as this is what’s needed to close off June 2020.
Day 39 – Thursday, October 31 – 646 reviews to go (-14) – ECD: January 3
Halloween! With my daughter old enough to go around with her friends without adult supervision, this meant that I not only had the house to myself, but actively had to do the whole “run silent, run deep” thing to avoid kids knocking at the door. Which meant sitting down relatively early and hammering one review after another (no shortcuts today). The big milestone of the day is completing June 2020 entirely. The good news about July 2020 are that I wrote a lot of notes during that month, and many of them are near-done already. You may see some higher-than-average numbers over the next few days. Or I may go to sleep earlier.
Day 40 – Friday, November 1 – 635 reviews to go (-11) – ECD: January 3
Despite the decent number of reviews completed, this wasn’t such a great day: I started after nine after juggling two events, wasn’t particularly focused and only made the total by skipping ahead and re-shaping a few notes that were already nearly complete. But this is November, and there’s only sixty days to go. I’m not expecting a great day tomorrow either, as I’ll be attending a local convention for much of the day.
Day 41 – Saturday, November 2 – 625 reviews to go (-10) – ECD: January 3
Only ten reviews today, but I got to that total honestly: By sitting down in the evening and hammering reviews from my not-so-complete notes. Let’s see if tomorrow will be better.
Day 42 – Sunday, November 3 – 588 reviews to go (-37) – ECD: January 0
What’s that? 37 reviews? In a row? Try not to review any movies on my way to the parking lot!
All right, let me explain. A week ago, as alluded above, I discovered that I made a mistake — a good mistake, in that the total number of reviews to write for June 2023 were not 92 reviews, but 72. An unexpected 20 reviews bonus! Rather than immediately throw the added days in the total, I thought I would account for the mistake on a day with a disappointing total and help keep my average. But then I wrote 17 reviews the honest way today (by sitting down and writing) and thought I wouldn’t get a better opportunity to drop a Clerks-inspired quote in this log.
This means a few significant improvements in my numbers. I not only broke through the 600-reviews threshold, I also brought my Expected Completion Date to January 0. (Yes, I know it’s not a real date — but I have programming experience, and I’m comfortable counting from zero.) In my internal tracking numbers, my average number of reviews per day is now back up to 12 per day, and my completed-by-average-reviews date is now December 20. Don’t read too much into this: I have a few unpromising days coming up late in November and around Christmastime. Plus, it’s about to get a lot harder considering that my notes get downright sketchy or missing in the second half of this marathon. In other words, any buffer is welcome news. If I can keep up two more good days, even my ECD should be in December by this Wednesday.
Day 43 – Monday, November 4 – 573 reviews to go (-15) – ECD: December 31
On Election Eve (yes, we Canadians are watching), I can either dissolve in a ball of slightly-anxious optimism or slam back the reviews, so I did both — MSNBC on the background, and fifteen reviews down, bringing our Expected Completion Date to December 31st (If you can’t deal with January 0, stop worrying). Tomorrow may go either way, and so may I: I have a dozen almost-complete sets of notes lined up, so I may be able to complete my quota despite being a big blob of anticipation throughout the evening.
Day 44 – Tuesday, November 5 – 543 reviews to go (-30) – ECD: December 29
American Election Night! I know, I know — how can I report an astonishing 30 reviews completed despite a heartbreaking result? Well, two things: First, I had a sixteen-reviews run of near-complete notes that only required some line-editing to complete. Then, as the results piled up and looked increasingly grim, I found myself focusing on something I had control on — churning out reviews. What also added to the total was a conviction not to go to bed until the final bitter call, further extending the time I spent in the writing chair even as the TV reported the heave-inducing results. Along the way, I broke through the half-way mark, completed July 2020 and brought my Expected Completion Date to December 29. (December 17 if I keep up the current average, which is unlikely for reasons I’ll explain later.) Tomorrow, I guess I’ll have a reckoning with my own misplaced electoral optimism, faulty analysis and echo chambers — but tonight, at least I can cling to some progress in my own sphere of control.
In other words: This review-writing marathon is driving me crazy in many ways, but tonight it kept me sane.
Day 45 – Wednesday, November 6 – 532 reviews to go (-11) – ECD: December 29
Back to reality today — the Earth doesn’t stop spinning because of a horrifying election result, and while I spent much of the day in a state similar to a cosmic horror protagonist who has discovered that the guiding forces of the universe are malevolent or insane, sitting down for more backlog-slaying had its therapeutic effect. Not an eventful day, but I did meet the daily quota I’m aiming for. (In-between visions of gloom and tantalizing shock reversals of fortune, I also had a concept of an idea for an eucatastrophic comic political thriller that would be splendid material for NaNoWriMo, but no — I’m committed to getting rid of my backlog this year. Or maybe I’ll dash off 50,000 words of comforting nonsense starting Inauguration Day.)
Day 46 – Thursday, November 7 – 521 reviews to go (-11) – ECD: December 29
A pretty normal day today — Eleven is a pretty good number, and I’m stopping largely because I’m tired and want to go to sleep early and claw back some of this wild week’s sleep deficit.
Day 47 – Friday, November 8 – 515 reviews to go (-6) – ECD: December 29
Some days just go better than others, and today wasn’t one of them. Still, six reviews down isn’t nothing, and given that there are only thirteen reviews left before completing August 2020, I may have a better-than-average motivation tomorrow. For now: sleep.
Day 48 – Saturday, November 9 – 508 reviews to go (-7) – ECD: December 30
Another not-so-good day — but those are why I try to build a buffer. After a ten-hour-long outing of shopping, dining and meeting with family, it simply took too long to settle down and get into the grind of writing the reviews. Once I did that, I was able to complete seven of them, but then a look at the clock suggested it was a better idea to go to bed rather than keep going. Tomorrow should be better!
Day 49 – Sunday, November 10 – 490 reviews to go (-18) – ECD: December 29
Good but not great day — especially given how I started very early. Still, eighteen reviews down is eighteen reviews down, especially given two more milestones met today: breaking through the 500-review threshold, and completing August 2020. If the total isn’t as high as it could have been, it’s because, well — one of the problems about this writing marathon is how it displaces nearly everything. I haven’t played a video game in nearly fifty days, for instance, and a lot of smaller administrative/creative tasks are being put off because every time I’m at the keyboard, I keep thinking, “I should be writing reviews now.” This evening, I did address some (but not all) of those nagging smaller tasks, and I’m not as happy as I should be — I could have been writing reviews during that time!
Day 50 – Monday, November 11 – 472 reviews to go (-18) – ECD: December 28
Today was a day off for me — and unfortunately, I have the feeling of having wasted most of it. I slept in much later than usual, spent the morning doing some of those smaller administrative tasks I was talking about yesterday, napped throughout much of the afternoon, and only got to write reviews late in the day. Adding to the difficulty is the worsening state of my notes: from now on, I can’t depend on half-written reviews to go faster: it’s all going to be done from scratch. Still, that’s another 18 reviews down, a further tick down for the Expected Completion Date, and better numbers across the board in my internal tracking. I suppose it will have to do — rest is important too. Another milestone of sorts: Today is the initial halfway point of Project Albatross: Fifty days in, fifty-one days left in the year. Fortunately, I’m slightly ahead of the initial projection: it’s looking good for finishing around December 22nd now if I keep the current average. Which I just may, out of spite.
Day 51 – Tuesday, November 12 – 460 review to go (-12) – ECD: December 28
A good solid twelve reviews on a weekday — can’t ask for much more. I’m within striking distance of closing off September 2020, and my internal tracking numbers are holding steady. Let’s see if we can keep this up for a pre-Christmas finish.
Day 52 – Wednesday, November 13 – 450 reviews to go (-10) – ECD: December 28
Only ten reviews today, and it was a bit of a hard slog. But! At least I’m now done with September 2020 (it was a short month) and the rest of the numbers don’t look bad. The only way to carve this up is chip by chip by chip.
Day 53 – Thursday, November 14 – 438 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: December 28
Twelve reviews is fine — it feels like a disappointment because I wanted to do fifteen and have a fair chance at ending another month tomorrow, but I guess it will have to do.
Day 54 – Friday, November 15 – 426 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: December 28
Aaargh — I wanted to finish the month tonight, but with six reviews to go, I’m going to sleep instead. Still, twelve is not bad. More tomorrow.
We’ve got something in the readers’ mailbox tonight! (A lie — there’s no readers’ mailbox. There aren’t even any readers.) — A question: How much time does it take to write a review?
On average, it’s usually sometime around twenty-to-thirty minutes. I know, I know — they’re short capsule reviews; they should be written more quickly. But part of the process, especially with dealing with a backlog of movies I haven’t seen in a while, is making sure I’m back into the world of the movie deeply enough that I can write knowledgeably about it. When I tackle a new film, I stop by IMDB to watch the trailer and remind myself of the cast and crew, go to Wikipedia to read about the plot summary, production history, reception and any other useful information about the film, and drop by TCM for pre-1970s films to read about their production history and historical context (It’s usually the same production history outlined in Wikipedia, except with more context and greater familiarity with the players involved in the film). At that point I usually have enough information (plus my notes) to write the capsule review. Once the review is complete, I will sometimes drop by letterboxd to read a few sample reviews to see if I haven’t forgotten anything worth mentioning. (There are capsule reviews elsewhere, but letterboxd is more my sarcastic, hip, joke-spitting crowd than the fuddy-duddies at IMDB or, worse, the I-love-everything basic film-goers at Google Reviews) This usually takes around twenty-to-thirty minutes, with the actual writing of the review being less time-intensive than (re)absorbing information about the movie itself. Part of the challenge in writing 10-12 reviews per day is context-switching, going from one very different movie to another and immersing myself in disparate eras of film history. It’s fun (by far the best way to get a wide-ranging education in movies), but there’s a hard limit to how much of that I can do during an evening. This is why, over time, I end up averaging something like three films an hour, and 3-4 hours of work per day.
Day 55 – Saturday, November 16 – 414 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: December 27
Twelve reviews isn’t anything worth crowing about on a Saturday, but it’s a decent total given the errands and Christmas decorations we put up today, and there is a milestone to celebrate: I am done with October 2020 (another short month) and am now tackling the 90-review behemoth December 2020 as the end-of-year boss. My Estimated Completion Date just kicked up a notch to December 27, and according to my internal tracking numbers, I now need an average of nine reviews per day if I am to finish by December 31st. That’s called a cushion in case of emergencies! Ideally, I’d like to get under the 400-review threshold by tomorrow, but we’ll see how that goes.
Day 56 – Sunday, November 17 – 399 reviews to go (-15) – ECD: December 27
Fifteen reviews is good but not great for a Sunday. I’m now under 400 reviews, though! The reason why I’m stopping there rather than continue to add more to it is to give myself enough time to actually watch a movie. Yeah, I know — such a luxury!
Day 57 – Monday, November 18 – 388 reviews to go (-11) – ECD: December 27
Today was a solid but not spectacular day. My internal numbers are still strong (I could end it all by December 21 if I keep up the current average) and I’m chipping away at the total consistently enough that I may be able to get out of 2020 by this weekend.
Day 58 – Tuesday, November 19 – 376 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: December 27
Another decent day, with twelve reviews down. I was struck today at how, after two workmanlike days, I was back in the pure NaNoWriMo groove of finishing work, getting home (this year going from the bus stop to the hardware store for an errand, to the grocery store for a bit of food) and writing for a few hours. I like the urbanity of walking from transit stop to whatever I need that day before getting home (hurrah for 15-minute neighborhoods!) and then quietly going on about the current writing project. Writer’s lifestyle right there!
Day 59 – Wednesday, November 20 – 363 reviews to go (-13) – ECD: December 26
Hey, look at that: another uptick in the Expected Completion Date. Take the “13” reviews review written today with a grain of salt — I ended up not-reviewing two films today (by which I mean — not only not writing a review, but also erasing the films from my viewing logs and deleting their placeholder entries) which is something I (rarely) do when I encounter a film of minor status about which I recall nothing worthwhile and can’t find anything to say about. This rarely happens, but it did twice today. I’m not really recording reviews written — I’m recording reviews left to write. On the other hand, I did write a non-recorded review of the film I saw last Sunday, so that’s that.
Day 60 – Thursday, November 21 – 350 reviews to go (-13) – ECD: December 26
Has it been sixty days already? Well, it’s still going full steam ahead — although I can’t help but consider today’s thirteen reviews completed to be a disappointment compared to what I wanted to do. Sure, my numbers look good (I’m seeing December 20 as the end date at the current average, or writing less than nine reviews a day to finish by December 30) but a great writing streak tonight and another one tomorrow would have meant completing 2020 by tomorrow and I can’t underscore just how much I want to be done with that year. Alas, that wasn’t to be and will not be: It took far too long to get to thirteen review today, and there’s no way I can do twenty reviews tomorrow on a weekday. So completing 2020 will have to wait just a bit longer, alas. In the meantime, I’m still doing pretty well, and the next few days look promising. (The next trouble spot is next Saturday — I’ll talk about it later.)
Day 61 – Friday, November 22 – 340 reviews to go (-10) – ECD: December 26
Despite meeting my daily quota for reviews, today wasn’t such a good day — I was tired, had a headache, was even perhaps even a bit under the weather, and had trouble getting to ten reviews in a reasonable time. A nap did not help. So no getting much closer to the end of December 2020 today, although it doesn’t look too bad for tomorrow.
Day 62 – Saturday, November 23 – 330 reviews to go (-10) – ECD: December 26
Pop open the bubbly, light up those fireworks and cheer along with me: Today was a huge milestone. By completing December 2020, I am also done with all of 2020. No matter what happens next (and I’ve made backups) I can now move forward with line-editing reviews from 2020, 2021 and 2022 to put on my web site. This is terrific news — it was one of my big objectives in starting Project Albatross, and I’m just as amazed as you are that there hasn’t been any zero days so far, that I’m still on schedule for a pre-Christmas finish, and that there’s now “only” June to October 2023 to catch up before I’m done. Today’s ten reviews may not look like much, but they were hard-fought: I had to push back against a day spent with family, a late start, lack of inspiration, a headache and an untimely nap to get it done, and considering that the clock is striking 2:00, I’m happy that tomorrow is Sunday so that I can sleep in. Of course, this just means that I’ve got to clock in at least another ten reviews tomorrow: 2020 is done, but 2023 awaits.
Day 63 – Sunday, November 24 – 315 reviews to go (-15) – ECD: December 25
Fifteen reviews on a Sunday is not that good of a total, but I’ll take it considering the other errands I had to complete today. Our Estimated Completion Date is now Christmas, which obviously won’t do — but there’s still time to change that. Part of why I stopped early at fifteen rather than press on was to write one long-form book review before I forgot crucial elements of my arguments, and also because I’m in the middle of a patch of particularly detailed notes. Stopping now means that I’ve got a lot of material to help me start tomorrow, which is always nice. Can I break through the 300-threshold tomorrow?
Day 64 – Monday, November 25 – 299 reviews to go (-16) – ECD: December 25
I was pushing myself a bit by trying to complete sixteen reviews on a weekday, but the effort was worth it: I’m under the 300-review threshold! I did cheat a bit (by using some unusually complete notes, by finding out that I had already reviewed one of the films on my list, and deciding not to review one film of minor importance and little renown) but not a lot — those were still a few honest hours of writing, a best-case scenario of coming back from work, eating a quick supper, and then sitting down to write. After two better-than-average days, my tracking numbers are looking good: If I had to hazard a guess based on current trends, I’m probably slated to end all of this around December 20-21… Unless I decide to spend a day working on a holiday bookmaking project that’s been rattling around my head. I’m also not looking forward to Saturday’s anticipated setback, so let’s see how the next few days are going to go.
Day 65 – Tuesday, November 26 – 288 reviews to go (-11) – ECD: December 25
A fine but not spectacular day today — I had to take an hour and a half off from my prime writing time to attend a non-profit board meeting, so that did have an impact… but not too much. After sixty-some days of this, the habit of sitting down for a few hours every evening to write about film is solidly anchored and while it’s not impossible that I would be waylaid (a big headache, a cold, an unforeseen emergency could still derail everything), it looks more and more as if this thing’s going to get done. And after that? I’m thinking about a solid month of not-writing, catching up on movies, and getting through as many videogames as I can stand. I haven’t seriously played anything since the beginning of the Project, and I miss it. But… no fun and games until we hit 000 on the counter.
Day 66 – Wednesday, November 27 – 276 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: December 25
A solid day today, without tricks or cheats: Just twelve reviews, one after the other. I did, however, start something else on the side — a crash project that pretty much has to be completed by early December if it’s to fulfill its goals. I’ll say more if I manage to complete it in time. Until then, though, it’s the daily grind. Internal tracking numbers are good: I now have to write fewer than eight reviews per day if I’m to finish before January 1st, and I’m within striking distance of finishing another month of backlogged reviews. Amusingly, the Autumn (i.e.: Thanksgiving) Steam sale began today. It has a few games at the right price, but I’m waiting for next month’s Winter sale instead.
Day 67 – Thursday, November 28 – 260 reviews to go (-16) – ECD: December 24
Wow, look at that! Sixteen reviews completed, and an Expected Completion Date that is now December 24! Better yet, my internal tracking numbers are booming: My average number of reviews per day, if sustained, would mean a completion date of December 19, right smack dab where I want it on the first day of the Steam Winter Sale. The only reason why I pushed myself this evening was to complete June 2023, meaning that I’ve got only four months to go. Well, make that two reasons, because I made choices today that I will not make again for a few days. Remember that crash project I mentioned yesterday? It just got a deadline, and that’s next Monday — I’ve got a hot 30% coupon at lulu.com and that means I’ve got three days to put together the book I want to send to the printers. It’s going to be tight, and it may nibble into my accumulated buffer (not to mention the problem that is Saturday, which is going to be an issue by itself.) So chances are good that I will voluntarily limit myself to ten reviews a day for the next 3-4 days, if that. Developing…
Day 68 – Friday, November 29 – 249 reviews to go (-11) – ECD: December 24
As threatened, the Crash Project is taking over slightly — I delivered my okay eleven reviews, and then worked on that other thing. Tomorrow is likely to be one of my worst days for Project Albatross: we’ll see how it goes, but expect a setback.
Day 69 – Saturday, November 30 – 244 reviews to go (-5) – ECD: December 24
Five reviews normally wouldn’t be worth crowing about, but considering the day, this is an absolute win. Today, after all, was a daytrip to Montréal for the Salon du Livre (“Bouquinville” for those in the know). But while the vast majority of this project’s previous 69 days had me back home (or in my hotel room) well before evening writing time, today was a rare exception — I didn’t t make it back before 23:00, and that limited what I could complete before calling it a night. Hence five reviews (some of them exasperated pans of recent films) is pretty good — my internal tracking numbers took a hit, but I’m still on-track for the same Expected Completion Date and I have once again escaped a Zero Day. Tomorrow may not be that much better than an average day, though — my focus is going to be on Crash Project once I hit my daily average, and that’s presuming I won’t sleep for much of the day.
Day 70 – Sunday, December 1 – 234 reviews to go (-10) – ECD: December 24
Let’s be clear — ten reviews on a Sunday is not good at all. But today’s focus was on the Crash Project, and it’s coming along nicely — I’ve got a reasonably good printable version, so tomorrow (which, I’m calling it now, is also going to be a disappointment in matters of reviews written) will be about fine-tuning and taking care of the last details before sending it to print. Which has to happen before midnight.
Day 71 – Monday, December 2 – 223 reviews to go (-11) – ECD: December 24
Sure, I did an average eleven reviews today — but the most important bit is that the Crash Project was revised, polished, completed and sent off to the printers with 90 minutes to spare. As I try not to obsess over what’s supposed to be shipped and received in the next ten-to-thirteen days, I’m now back to Project Albatross almost full-time. Tomorrow should be a better day for reviews, but we will see how things go.
Day 72 – Tuesday, December 3 – 210 reviews to go (-13) – ECD: December 24
Ugh, what an underwhelming day. Everything is relative, and being disappointed in merely completing a higher-than-average thirteen reviews only begins to make sense if I tell you that I had taken the day off work. My original intention, a few weeks ago, was either to complete my Christmas shopping, clean the house or write. After the eye-watering purchases of Thanksgiving weekend and expenses of the Chaos Project, though, my revised intentions as of this morning were to write, write, write and do a little bit of housecleaning in anticipation of having guests over this coming Saturday. So I slept in, answered a few emails, saw that lulu.com had extended its 30% discount another day, ordered a few more books, settled down to write by 11:15 and then… power outage. A regional power outage which dragged on until 18:30, effectively taking away an entire day’s worth of writing time. Oh, it wasn’t a wasted day — I cleaned the house more thoroughly than I had anticipated, assembled a Lego advent calendar right as the sun was setting, greeted my daughter from school (whose schedule had been cut short thanks to the power outage), started the first stove fire of the season and read a bit more of the novel I’m trying to finish. But the writing only started in earnest at 18:31. I’m still happy with a better-than-average total, but this should have been a 20+ reviews day and it barely begins to make up for the shortfall of this weekend’s day-trip and Chaos Project.
Day 73 – Wednesday, December 4 – 198 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: December 24
I could have written more. I should have written more. I’m at this stage where I want to be done with this project, and there’s still at least two weeks still to go. The only way to make it happen faster is to write more every day, and that’s why my average twelve reviews today don’t feel like nearly enough. Oh well. But look at that: I’m now under the 200-reviews threshold, and my tracking numbers are stable — still projected to end around December 20 (I lost a day due to last Saturday in Montreal and wasn’t able to make it up yesterday.) Every day remains a battle, but at least there are fewer than twenty of them left.
Day 74 – Thursday, December 5 – 185 reviews to go (-13) – ECD: December 23
Today’s good thirteen reviews masks an evening in two acts: The first in which writing the first few reviews felt like pulling teeth, with everything taking longer and being more difficult than expected –reviewing a slew of indifferent 1980s films didn’t help. Then there was the second act, later during the evening (night owl time!), in which everything became easier and more fluid until it was time to go to sleep, alas. No matter how, the result is not quite where I wanted to go at the beginning of the evening (I’ve got less than a handful of reviews left before ending another month), but my tracking numbers have all improved! Look at that: We’ve now at an expected completion date of either December 23 (if I keep writing 10 reviews a day) or December 20 (if I keep the current average). Of course, if I improve the average…maybe this weekend will help.
Day 75 – Friday, December 6 – 175 reviews to go (-10) – ECD: December 23
I wasn’t able to do as much as I wanted, and it was more laborious than I wanted, and it took me longer than I wanted, but I still have ten reviews done, and finished July 2023 along the way. I’m not bullish on tomorrow (I’m hosting guests), but every day that I clear ten reviews is one less day to go.
Day 76 – Saturday, December 7 – 163 reviews to go (-12) – ECD: December 23
Today was a slog. Since I was hosting guests, I couldn’t start before 21:30, and the slate of films I had to review today was an exceptionally difficult group of silent movies, foreign titles, transgressive works and other less-than-simple reviews to write. It took an effort of will and a very late bedtime to make it to twelve reviews completed, and I suppose that this is where the discipline gained during this entire Project comes in handy: Just sit down and write, it doesn’t have to be good it just has to be done. Tomorrow’s one big chance to get ahead — will I waste it?
Day 77 – Sunday, December 8 – 149 reviews to go (-14) – ECD: December 23
Call it a day half-wasted. Between various errands (including shovelling the driveway) and something to complete for work, I only ended up doing 14 reviews today, which is better than average (and definitely improves my tracking numbers) but not quite enough to make a sizeable dent in the remaining total. We’re still looking at an end date of December 20 at the current average, which is one or two days later than I’d like. I’m clearly looking forward to the end. Now let’s make it happen. Less than two weeks left if it all goes well…
Day 78 – Monday, December 9 – 134 reviews to go (-15) – ECD: December 22
I had a streak of great luck today — a run of interesting movies to criticize that I remembered fairly well and had not trouble finding a hook on which to base the reviews. It made for better reviews, obviously, but it also made for faster reviews since I didn’t have to do as much research. Once I got into the groove of it, I knocked them out in 15 minutes and kept going way past the average. Alas, I must now stop — it’s late am I’m trying to rebuild healthy sleeping habits. But I can go to bed knowing that my tracking numbers both external and internal are all much better: My expected completion date at 10 reviews per day has bumped up, and my internal numbers are all looking great, anticipating a grand finale to it all next Friday or so. It is weird to write more on a Monday than a Sunday, but I will take it. And if I can get just another great day like this tomorrow, I’ll be in a very good spot for an even earlier finish.
Day 79 – Tuesday, December 10 – 120 reviews to go (-14) – ECD: December 22
What a good day! Of course, I had quite an incentive to complete 14 reviews this afternoon — it got me to dispose of August 2023, and to bolster some of those internal tracking numbers a little bit. Only two months of reviews to go, and my trend-lines are (so far) converging on Friday, December 20 as the most likely completion day… although we’ll see after this weekend — If you’re a betting person, put a wager on December 19 instead, because I’m building up quite a momentum, and there’s the Steam Sale beginning that day as an additional carrot. I’m looking forward to the end of it all — My chair is becoming uncomfortable, my other projects are piling up, my evenings are becoming indistinguishable and I’m getting ready to do something else. But first: let’s knock down those 120 reviews.
Day 80 – Wednesday, December 11 – 107 reviews to go (-13) – ECD: December 22
Another reasonably good day today, with some straightforward writing energy to grind a slightly better-than-average number. Internal tracking numbers are slightly up, which is the trend I want to see. A good weekend could be decisive in ending this early, and early planning suggests that I’ll be able to write longer than usual on Saturday. I’m now down to less than 10% of the total I started with!
Day 81 – Thursday, December 12 – 094 reviews to go (-13) – ECD: December 21
While my daily total is better than the average, it wasn’t an easy day — I struggled with a handful of difficult reviews, and there’s a real sense that I’m pushing myself past exhaustion to at least get above the average every single day. We’ve got quite a few positive numbers today: I am, at long last, under the hundred-reviews threshold, and my Expected Completion Date (at a pace of ten reviews) has ticked up to December 21. My internal tracking numbers are also tracking up as well, with an average number of reviews written per day that should land me somewhere between next Thursday and next Friday as my completion date. A week to go! Place your numbers on Thursday or maybe Wednesday, because the only way out is through — and I’m arranging my plans for a double-load weekend.
Day 82 – Friday, December 13 – 080 reviews to go (-14) – ECD: December 21
It’s a good thing that I can sleep late tomorrow, because I’ve been pushing myself this evening (now early morning) trying to write more than the average number of reviews. At this stage, I really want to be done with this, so this weekend is one occasion to give it a final push. Anyway — it worked, my numbers are looking better and we’re solidifying an end date of either next Thursday or Friday (more Thursday if the current trend holds.) A good performance over the next two days may reshuffle the deck, though — keep an eye on this space.
Day 83 – Saturday, December 14 – 063 reviews to go (-17) – ECD: December 20
That’s right — seventeen reviews down on a Saturday: A combination of a quiet day spent at home (save for an outing for supper) and the increasingly obsessive desire to finish this as quickly as possible. The work was spread over the afternoon and evening, meaning that I get to go to sleep earlier tonight. I’m so close to the finish line at this point and doing so well day after day that all of my tracking numbers are converging quickly. A ten-reviews-per-day pacing now tells me it’s ending Friday, my current average tells me Thursday, and my determination tells me Wednesday (with an outside chance of Tuesday if I go caffeinated). We’ll see how that pans out tomorrow.
Day 84 – Sunday, December 15 – 045 reviews to go (-18) – ECD: December 19
Another big day today — eighteen reviews down as the pace accelerates. I’m done with September 2023, and all indicators are pointing in the right direction — smart money is that it all ends on Thursday, maybe Wednesday if I manage to sock away fifteen reviews on each of the next three days (not impossible… but difficult) I could have written a bit more today, but I’m picking a different strategy: go to bed early, get a good night’s sleep, and be rested for the final stretch that begins tomorrow.
Day 85 – Monday, December 16 – 029 reviews to go (-16) – ECD: December 19
The math is simple: If I start with forty-five reviews to write and want to finish in three days, I need to write 15 reviews per day. Tough, but possible. Especially now that I’m highly motivated to end all of this by Wednesday. So tonight was a no-brainer: site down and write fifteen reviews, and do so in such a way to ensure that I will be able to do the same tomorrow and the next day. Mission accomplished, at least for today: I avoided distractions, delays and doubts and just wrote. I even added an additional review on top of the fifteen because it had a natural link with the previous one. Better yet — as an additional wind in my back as I’m in the final stretch, my notes have once again become more plentiful. My tracking number are all aligned on Thursday as the final day, but I know I can do it by Wednesday. Unless I get some Mountain Dew tomorrow morning.
Day 86 – Tuesday, December 17 – 000 reviews (-29) – Actual Completion Date: NOW
It’s done. Completed. For the first time in more than five years (maybe longer!), I have no more movie reviews to write.
Never bet against a writer on a deadline, no matter how badly the day begins. While I had thankfully taken the day off, I woke up with a headache, brought the car to the garage, was informed of the four-figures repair cost (…so far…) and next-day repair duration (…so far…), walked two hours to get home (thirty minutes of this on an icy slushy unpaved forest trail) and got home by 14:00. The math was simple: I had 29 reviews to write, which at 20 minutes per review was mathematically possible before midnight. Regaining some control over the universe, I set myself an hour-per-hour schedule, then sat down and just… wrote. I finished shortly after 23:30.
It feels intensely weird not to have that albatross around my neck any more. More thoughts tomorrow as I wrap this up with what you’ve been waiting for: statistics.
Day 87 – Wednesday, December 18 – 000 reviews (0) – Actual Completion Date: Yesterday
Okay, let’s have a small victory lap today. Project Albatross is complete! I have written 1,175 something reviews in 86 days, for a total of roughly 210,000 words. If that number seems surprisingly high (it’s the equivalent of two novels!), rest assured that it surprised me so much that I double-checked in two different ways: Multiplying my average words-by-reviews, and comparing the number of words in my current files versus pre-Project files. Both results landed me around 210,000 to 220,000 words.
But most of all, there were no Zero Days in the bunch. I never had a day in which I wrote fewer than three reviews for 86 days. Neither international drips, day-drips to Montréal, Crash Projects, household guests or Christmas shopping could stop me. High-water marks were around thirty reviews (election day and last day). My final average was 12.7 reviews; median was 12. (Ironically, I received my copies of my printed Crash Project today — it looks good, and will make a great Christmas gift.)
As a result, I feel a bit free and lost tonight. It’s hard to break a habit established over 86 days! I wasn’t able to resist going back into a few reviews to run a grammar checker and start line-editing. Still, my goal for the next month is to write as little as possible (say, as I see movies and immediately write about them) and play a lot of video games. The Steam Sale starts tomorrow (not that I need to replenish my back-log, but we’ll see.) Otherwise, I’ve been putting off a few emails, personal projects, movies to watch and so on — it will be time to live a bit less intensely.
Not that this is over. The reviews are written, sure, but that only unlocks the next step of the process: Editing. I need to run a grammar checker on it all. I then need to line-edit the corrected reviews, add some metadata, find poster images and put all of this on the web site, which then requires additional effort to properly tag the content. And I’ve got to do this for five years (2020-2024), which comes up to roughly one million new words of content. Whew. And I’ve got to schedule this around my next writing project, a novel which I will begin on January 20 and run to the end of February. One project ends, another one begins. Hopefully the next time I end up holding a daily journal, it will be for the novel and never again for a backlog of reviews.