Not Burned Out

But close. I've been doing it again. Too much time wasted stressing about one thing or another, not enough time just enjoying what I do. Granted, it's been a pretty crappy two weeks. We've had kitchen remodelling, damp issues and resulting drywall damage, game nights cancelled, migraines, worrying about what my beta readers think of my new book. It's all been a bit, well, crap.

On the plus side, the new kitchen is great and so easy for Jen to use with just a regular office chair on wheels. We've also settled on trading in our car for a 2nd-hand Daihatsu Terios, since we figure having 4-wheel drive in the winters we've been getting lately is big and clever.

I need to start doing a few more things for fun. Reading more, for a start. Taking the time to enjoy working on my new WIPs instead of thinking I have to get them written as soon as possible, that's a biggie. I've spread out the last of my annual leave so that I have at least a 4-day weekend in every month for the rest of the year. I think there will definitely be some all-day writing going on, but also maybe the odd all-day cinema trip or something.

Something Jody Hedlund actually pointed out to me today was that, given everything that's happened, I've likely spent many days just sitting down and telling myself to write, no matter how I was feeling. It's easy to lose that sense of joy in doing something when you're telling your brain that it doesn't matter how you feel, you're going to do this anyway.

I love my writing, I really do. But I've got two novels written, one of which is out in 2012 and the other which I don't have to think about querying until some time after the New Year. I think it's time I made sure writing was fun again.