Last week I started the editing process of my novel with the intention of working on it every Thursday and Friday. I was SO EXCITED. Then I looked at the calendar. Thursday and Friday are booked up with kid stuff this week - one trip to look at a college and one trip to Comic Con. Good stuff but it messes up my commitment to myself. Dammit. |
everything is re-negotiable.
Everything.
So, I renegotiated with myself. I got clear on what needed doing this week (trimming the list in half) and then I worked my butt off yesterday to get most of them done.
After that I was so tired that I got to sleep at a decent hour, slept like the dead and woke up ready to get to work today.
And I could just have easily renegotiated to NOT work on editing this week. That would have been just as viable a solution - so long as I consciously made the choice to do it that way.
Re-negotiate. It's how to stay true to yourself while maintaining the flexibility to roll with what Life throws at you!
#WritersLife #MaggieAndChristian #Ritual
(Mah verb tenses are all confused. I'm not an idiot; I'm a lousy typist!)
#WriterQuestions #WritersLife
(and because I have awesome friends, you can find the answer in the Smithsonian Magazine.)
Done for the day. I'm making better time - got up to page 27 today. It helped to have my writing circle at my back. But then, that always helps. (RoundTUITWritingCircle.com if you want to stop by ) Blowing out my candle now. Until tomorrow! #WritersLife #RoundTUITWritingCircle #MaggieAndChristian |
I wrote with a friend at the library at 9 this morning, and I'm starting.
We spent as much time talking about and processing our children's college application process as we did writing, and I'm starting.
I went to the bookstore, looked at $60 worth of books, put back $60 worth of books, and I'm starting.
I went grocery shopping so there would be a healthy, non-takeout dinner tonight, and I'm starting.
I watched one of my shows while eating a delicious lunch of doctored left-overs, and I'm starting.
I took a 20 minute nap, and I'm starting.
I will be able to get in an hour of work before the kids get home, and I'm starting.
I'm starting.
Now.
Because everything is renegotiable.
#WritersLife #MaggieAndChristian
Re-negotiating. It works.
I had to renegotiate the time I spent working on my edits, and then I had to renegotiate the flow of my day today.
And I'm glad I did.
Maybe I could have gotten a little more accomplished if I had dug in this afternoon. I didn't *need* to watch my show; I didn't *need* to nap. I could have powered through and had a few more pages to show for it.
But I'm not in this to kill myself. I'm not in it to beat myself over the head or flagellate myself with guilt. In a past life, maybe (definitely) but not today.
Because in the practice of negotiating I have learned to recognize the feel of "enough." I have learned to trust when I need some downtime (in a bookstore or lost in a TV show) and in trusting it I have always been rewarded with better, easier outcomes.
Yesterday I added a little mouse to my altar - wasn't sure why but I've come to trust those little intuitive hunches. Now I realize it was a reminder to keep things in perspective - to look at it differently and recognize renegotiation as necessary to the work ahead.
What could use some re-negotiating in your life?
#MaggieAndChristian #WritersLife# EverythingIsReNegotiable #Everything