"G" - Give Yourself Permission

Today is the day to celebrate a new year and welcome new opportunities. For the most part, we are the creators of those opportunities. As writers we must give ourselves permission to do what we love to do. Write! When I wrote my first novel, "The Stelladaur: Book One, Finding Tir Na Nog", I wrote 5-6 hours every day. It was intense but pure bliss! I miss that. That wonderful groove when I gave myself permission to put everything else on hold. I let the dishes, laundry and my inbox just pile up; and I exerted my right to say 'no' to an endless list of other demands, both self imposed and otherwise. If you're currently in that realm of euphoric oneness with transferring the words in your head to your computer, then simply give yourself permission to write for a certain number of minutes longer each day. Fifteen to thirty minutes more may be just the boost you need to finish a thought or complete a scene.

Over the holidays I performed the role of a Who in Whoville in the play "The Grinch". The Whos did not let the Grinch steal from them what they loved to do the most. Feast, feast, feast, feast. And sing, sing, sing sing. Nor can you let any "grinchiness" (distractions disguised in endless varieties and emotions) keep you from doing what you love to do the most. Write, write, write, write! This day, this week, this year, give yourself permission to write until your heart grows ten times larger. You may even find yourself bursting into song: Wah-who for-aze...Dah-who dor-aze! (I've attached a photo of me as a Who, sitting on my son's bed before leaving to the play.)