First Day on the Job; Michael Phelps; Jason Lezak

Today is my first day of unemployment. Isn't that grand?

Actually, I'm not unemployed. The official definition of that word is one who has no job but is actively seeking one. I ain't. (And if I speak like that, it's a good thing!) I'm jobless in the sense that I work for no one and no one is ever going to give me a paycheck based on hours of work or give me any benefits. But boy do I have a job.

I'm an author now. It still seems too good to be true. No longer am I an accountant who authors on the side. I am an author. And it feels great.

Normally, switching jobs as I just did, it'd be cool to take off a week in between. But there's no time. My goal for this week is to break my personal record for words in one week. I have to. I need to get this first draft of THE MAZE RUNNER done so I can have a full month to revise and get feedback and revise. Wish me luck. I'm currently at 63,000 words.

My wife is my new boss, I guess. She won't let me become a lazy bum, which is a good thing. Despite this being my first day of freedom, I got up early and jogged, wrote 1,300 words, and now I'm doing my blog (which I consider as important as anything else in my new job!). I hope to complete 5,000 words a day this week. For those of you not good at math, that equates to 25,000 words by Friday, which would blow away my old record of around 20,000.

Now, if I can only make sure they're not 25,000 sucky words . . .

Wanna hear something funny? I quit my job and I still haven't been paid a dime! Not a cent! Isn't that hilarious? I thought so.

Actually, don't think I'm an irresponsible doofus. I have three sources of income coming very, very soon between advances and royalties. But I tell ya, two months ago when I made this decision, I had no idea we'd be cutting it this close. Don't worry, we'll be fine.

Switching gears - last night I experienced one of the greatest sporting moments of my life. I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about. The 4 X 100 freestyle relay at the Olympics.

I love the Olympics. I love it with a passion. I watch it voraciously every time they occur. If I didn't have this huge deadline on MAZE, I'd spend the next 2 weeks doing nothing but. I'll settle this time for just the primetime coverage.

Anyway, last night I watched perhaps the most amazing Olympics moment of a lifetime of watching the Olympics. Well, one of, anyway. Michael Phelps is on a quest to break the record for golds at a single Olympiad, and last night's was the only race in which he was not the favorite. (He, meaning his relay team.)

When it came to the fourth and last guy, the Americans were a full body length behind the French (who'd trash talked and said they would "smash" us). The French dude is the WORLD RECORD HOLDER. The commentators had said the US would need a big lead before getting to that dude to have any chance of winning. And we were a BODY LENGTH behind.

But Jason Lezak performed a miracle. That's the only way it can be described. In only 100 meters, he somehow caught and passed (by 8 one hundredths of a second) the French dude and won the gold for USA, keeping Phelp's quest alive.

I, of course, stood up and screamed, waking the entire neighborhood. And to watch those 4 American swimmers celebrate was just amazing.

This Olympics will belong to Michael Phelps. He just may break Spitzer's record of 7 golds. But I think the name I will remember for the rest of my life is Jason Lezak. Wow. It was superhuman.

I love the Olympics.

Okay, back to work for me. I have a ruthless boss.