Gathering strength for the last push

I had hoped to finish Chapter 5 with this morning's work, but I didn't get there. Worked between 90-120 minutes and got up to the last 5 pages of the chapter where the climax is and which will need to be rewritten based on the different direction I've imagined for it. It's sort of like climbing a mountain and getting just shy of the peak before deciding to camp for the night and try again fresh in the morning.

On days like this I often feel a kind of tense exhaustion. It seems to come from living mentally in the story for an hour or so and then trying to emerge back out of it into the world. It's a satisfying feeling. The only drawback is the sense of conflict with other duties. I need to snap out of it and get to work on my paying gigs, but I'd rather lay around all day stewing about the work I've done and the work I still have to do. In a sense, that's what I did all of last summer when I wrote the first draft, and it was a great luxury. I wish the rest of the process was as enjoyable.