A couple of weeks before the release of The Flannigan Girls, I went through a mental phase of...am I doing enough?
Do you ever have those days, those weeks, where you feel like you are just moving in circles and not getting anywhere? That was precisely my mental state.
My daughter was graduating from high school, we were preparing for a family vacation to Disney, and I was working on my author business (something I am still learning about and feel completely clueless in).
-My first novel was due to be released.
-The audio version of my poetry book was released and is doing really well.
-I got the first set of proofs from the illustrator on my next children's book.
-I was finally out of my boot and back on two solid feet.
But I still felt like I should be doing more. I had written 20,000 words on my next novel and then I reached a mental roadblock. Something about this one thing got me stuck and I was unable to appreciate all of the other accomplishments happening around me.
Why do we do that to ourselves? Why do we focus on the ‘not getting done’ versus the ‘look what I got done.’ It’s such a horrible cycle of self-deprecation that is so easy to fall into. We undervalue all that we do. It wasn’t until I was sitting across a friend over dinner and started talking about what was going on in my world that I realized how I had let the negative thoughts overtake all of the positive things happening around me. I felt so stupid for not honoring myself, for not giving myself a little bit of grace where I was faltering.
The writing will come, the ideas will flow. It was time to step back and look at the big picture of how much I was doing, how many great things were happening around me. To accept that maybe what I was doing right now was enough.
In The Flannigan Girls, Claire battles with many of these self-deprecating thoughts. She has to come to terms with insecurities buried deep down from her childhood to grow and understand that what she is doing right now is enough.
As I reflect back on writing this book, I realize now that it took so long for me to write my first novel because of many of these same thoughts. I hope as you read through Claire’s story you too will take a moment and honor yourself and all you do as enough.
As Maya Angelou said, “You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.”
You can order a signed copy through my website now or through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and all major retailers.
With love and light,
Wendy
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