Don’t Beat Yourself Up

This is my new goal for 2015–not to beat myself up for not writing more. Perhaps it sounds lazy, but I have to let it go.

At the November Kansas SCBWI conference I met an amazing woman, an agent of Red Fox Literary named Karen Grencik–one of the loveliest people I’ve ever met. I had the pleasure of eating breakfast with her at our hotel, and she gave me advice that rivaled that of my nurse while giving birth to my first child who said, “This too shall pass.” And everything does, whether we like it or not.

What a blessing this sweet lady was in my life!

Concerning writing, Karen said–and I’m paraphrasing–“You’re doing your very best every day, so don’t beat yourself up over it.” And she was/is right. I am doing my very best every day. I go to bed exhausted, wake up tired, never take naps, rarely take free time even for lunch, and I still have days where it’s impossible to find time to write more than a couple sentences.

This is where the Margaret Atwood quote comes in. For every word after every word after every word I write, I will feel success. I should feel success. For one sentence, if that is the best sentence I can write.

So here’s to a year of words, one after another. Let’s keep them coming!