Old-Man Project

Ann Althouse has an intriguing post up this morning which starts with a quote from a recent article by John McPhee in the New Yorker.  She remarks that it is part of:

. . . a collection of "saved-up, bypassed, intended pieces of writing as an old-man project, the purpose of which is never to end" — modeled on Mark Twain's "old-man project," his autobiography.

Althouse concludes:

McPhee's idea of the "old-man project" is that it's a way to stay alive, so it's not just long and sprawling. It's impossible to finish. That's the idea. I get it. It's like blogging. 

I get it too.