Someone tweeted a link to an article on Sunday that I thought was really interesting: Creative People Say No.
The one thing I've learned is how important it is to guard writing time. It's hard to come by and easily sacrificed by others. I can't tell you how many times people have argued with me saying, it's just one evening or it's just a few hours.
But it's not that simple. First of all, there are a lot of people who only want "just a few hours." Without the word no, there'd be zero writing time left. They discount the days when the words all have to be cut because none of them are the right ones. They discard the way life has a way of throwing little emergencies at people.
Right now I'm on deadline and panicking because I have to close on my house in Minnesota--it's sold--and find a house in Georgia. Um, there is no extra time in my schedule. I'm like hyperventilating on this deadline, so just an evening? No, sorry. I can't do it.
