Yesterday was a bad day.
Today is shaping up to be a bad day. It’s not the persistent, nagging slow burn of depression or grief, it’s just several bad days where things just happen that suck. My trainer quit, for example. I had some family drama to deal with. And my beloved manuscript earned its first rejection.
That last one stung. Well, they all stung, and getting rejected by the first publisher was expected. Everyone who’s ever been successful has been rejected a bunch of times. I knew it was coming, and what’s more, I would have been amazed if they took it. I know my manuscript is a hot mess. But it was disappointing nonetheless.
I’ve pretty much entirely stopped writing, which is spiraling my NaNoWriMo goal completely out of control. I haven’t thrown in the towel yet; I have next week off so I do plan to buckle down and have some epic writing sessions to make some progress.
I don’t know if I’ll get 50,000 words by 11/30, but I’m still going to try. I don’t even want to look and see what I’d have to write every day to get that accomplished. After all, in the great words of Han Solo, “never tell me the odds.”
Anyway if you have had a crappy day, or a series of crappy days, here’s my advice:
- Retreat into the world you’ve made. After all, you can decide what’s there that can get you. Make it nothing, if you need to.
- Fake it til you make it. Even if you don’t feel like putting words to page, do it anyway. You can go to bed reflecting on what you did that day and be proud of something.
- Eat well, drink water, and exercise. It will make you body feel better.
- Get a reasonable amount of sleep (more than 6 hours, less than 10) so your brain is ready, even if your heart isn’t feeling it.
Good luck! May there be better days for all of us ahead!
The Merry Manuscript 