IWSG - Fill the Glass

 Brought to us by Alex J. Cavanaugh, and supported by Sheena-kay Graham, Suzanne Furness, and Laura Eno.

So, I had a few stressful weeks. Somewhere in the midst of them, I stopped writing.

I thought, hey, I can forgive myself for that, right? I mean, it's been stressful, and when I'm stressed, I cuddle with my family, and sometimes blank out the world with a lot of reading (that I don't really have time for, but I do anyway).

But I stopped writing. I stopped writing, when maybe it could have helped me stay a little less stressed.

And when I wanted to start again, I struggled.

It felt like everything was all junk, all . . . well, I stopped swearing 16 years ago and I don't want to start seeing the world through a glass-half-empty outlook again and that's what swearing does to my mind so . . . I won't say what I was thinking.

I realized what I was doing, letting those annoying insecurities eat into my brain and my soul, and I decided to look for ways to fill the glass.

Somehow, I think that decision led to the following events. Or, at least, the fact that I noticed the following events.

That morning, I met a fellow neighborhood walker who is a published author, and for the first time, I told her about my book. She just seems so professional and amazing, that I admit I was afraid to tell her before . . . and she told me she had a tough time marketing for several years before she started speaking at conventions, and having phone interviews with radio stations. She told me to start using e-mail to promote my book - just ten minutes a day, one bookstore, organization, group, radio station, etc. at a time, and then she told me to keep writing.  Her most recent success, Vegan in 30 Days: Get Healthy, Save the World, is on my mom's bookshelf and I've read it, even though I'm not vegan. (and yes, that's a picture of Sarah on the cover)

And then, I met a new friend (or at the very least a kindred spirit), and she and I had this awesome conversation that included homeschooling, classroom teaching (we both like both kinds of teaching), and our passions (she's really into science, I love language arts), and she gave me ideas for marketing my book, and gave me huge encouragement. Wow! (The idea: sending information about my book to each homeschool co-op in the area and ask if I could do an author talk/book signing - there are at least 5 within easy driving distance.)

And if, that wasn't enough to get me started again, I meandered over to my book page at amazon, and thought I could use a little book review uplift (hoping that there were no negative reviews that had popped up in the night), and whoa . . . look a review I hadn't seen before, that somehow I had missed, from the daughter of a friend . . . a five star, seriously sweet review! Wow!

So, I sat down and wrote in my journal. And then, I revised a chapter and wrote a completely new one for Champion in Flight, Draft #2.

I'm back, and I'm filling my glass. Now, there's not question about whether it's half empty or half full.

How do you fill your glass?