Being kind to me day.

Yesterday I had a being kind to me day. Following two rejections in as many weeks, I was feeling down, the giving up on writing forever sort of down. Usually I can grit my teeth and work through that, but I decided to try a different approach.

I was going to spend the whole day doing only what I wanted. If it was something I felt I had to do, then it wasn't going to happen. Also, whatever I did, I wasn't going to rush. If it took longer than usual, or if it didn't get finished it simply didn't matter.

And writing anything, since I was obviously so bad at it, was banned.

So what did I do?

I tidied my desk and instantly felt better.

I spent an hour or two in the garden, pulling up weeds and cutting back shrubs and I felt better.

I ate supper and had a glass of wine.

And somewhere, between the glass of wine and the beginning of a Sky Arts programme on Hopper, I did a little gentle editing.

I know this was forbidden, but by that time in the evening I was mellow and relaxed enough and because it wasn't a work in progress or something I'm promoting right now, I actually enjoyed it.

The lesson learned? Stop rushing around, slow down, enjoy. If it happens, it happens. There will be other days when I have more energy, when I'll be on the net, tweeting and facebooking and all the things I need to do, but sometimes it's necessary to switch it all off and have a be kind to me day.