Don't do long ambitious projects in Lisp. Instead, implement a small library everyday. Do something that itches you now, and be done with it the moment you get

Don't do long ambitious projects in Lisp. Instead, implement a small library everyday. Do something that itches you now, and be done with it the moment you get bored. It's more fun and educational that way. If you cut yourself a "project", the remaining 10% will suck the life out of you and it's not fun. Try not to close your Emacs. You need to be able to find lisp on an impulse. Do all your arithmetic calculations with it, first. And gradually write your shell scripts in it and other admin types. Download libraries and read their sources; you can get to the definition points by typing M-. in Slime mode. I encourage you to indulge yourself, have fun, and feel free to jump from project to another. In fact, you will do just fine having multiple "projects" in one source file; I had scratch-buffers tens of pages long. Hedonistic, irresponsible programming :-)