The Whining Dog Blog

As I sit on the couch with my laptop, Huckleberry, aka the Saint Bernard of Doom, has a stuffed bumblebee in his mouth.  His sad eyes find mine and the most pathetic, gut-wrenching whine plays in an endless loop.  He knows the laptop means I won’t be playing with him anytime soon.  Eventually, but not right now.  He pushes the bee against my arm.  

Now.  Now.  Now.

 

I get how he feels.  I do.  In writing, we’re constantly waiting for things to happen: 

If I could just finish this first draft…

If I could just make it through this revision…

If I could just write something good enough to query agents…

If I could just get an agent…

A book deal…

A cover…

 

A finished book…

Good reviews…

Picked up by Barnes and Noble…

Face out on the shelf…

 

Make the NYT…

Sell a sequel…

And the list goes on and on.  Because there’s always another draft or another revision or another manuscript to work through.  There’s always another milestone to reach.  It’s easy to get trapped in a cycle of anticipation and obsess until I can’t concentrate on anything more complicated than hitting refresh on my inbox.   

What is wrong with me? 

Oh yeah, I’m a writer.  

But sometimes I need a reminder to take a step back and breathe.  And that’s when I’m glad I have Huckleberry to remind me to spend a few minutes in the real world, throwing a bee across the living room floor. 

How do you decompress?