This time of year brings out so many different emotions and
unfortunately one of them is usually stress as we try to create the perfect
Christmas. So one of my favourite times of the year is that pause between
Christmas and New Year. The mania of Christmas has passed and New Year hasn’t
happened yet. I can put off the thought of making any resolutions and the rush of getting back
into my stride which inevitably involves the school run and lunchboxes hasn’t
yet landed in my lap.
This pause is just the time for long walks along deserted
beaches and a chance to review and rethink and inevitably that means my writing.
Am I writing what I want to? Am I enjoying what I’m writing? A year ago, the questions would have been very different
with the focus of a publishing contract with Mills and Boon very much at the
forefront of my mind and certainly the bar by which I measured my success. I
can’t help but believe that writing in that way was restricting. Writing should be
its own reward as an idea is created and perfected to my own standards.
So I’m going to enjoy this pause and let the winter wind
blow away my preconceived ideas of what success means to me in my writing. The
idea of just writing and letting my subconscious take me where it wants to go
in the story, telling myself that my writing is just for me (unless I choose
otherwise), is so appealing and freeing that I can feel the joy and enthusiasm returning just as warmth returns to cold fingers.
Sometimes life makes us pause and the pause can be good for
us.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
