There has to be some universal threshold for too much bad news in a day, and today crossed it. I acknowledge that it’s pretty easy to argue that I don’t handle bad news very well. I’m willing to accept that. It was a lot of work woes, none of which will be mentioned here.

One of my stories I sent out yesterday was already rejected. It’s a little disheartening, especially on top of bad news, but these things happen. On top of the rest of my day, it was more of a blow to my mood than I care to admit.

After work, I could have written stories or worked on other projects, or a number of other things. I didn’t. Today’s post is about why I’m okay with

Day Twenty-Four – Dealing with off-days

My post-work plans included a short story I’ve been neglecting, working on details for a novel, and picking today’s topic. None of those things happened. Instead of any of those things, I took, a nap, played some WoW, made dinner, and watched the season 2 premiere of Gravity Falls. I could let my failed hopes of productivity really eat me up, but I’m choosing not to let that happen. Yeah, I could’ve gotten a bunch of writing done, but I didn’t.

So what? Why is it not eating me up? Well, it is bothering me a little, but I’m making the choice to move along and accept that today was an off-day. That things weren’t really meant to get done, and that there will be days when I accomplish far more than I initially planned (if I even planned anything for such days at all). That’s how I get through days like today.

The nap was a much-needed recharge, and so I feel happy with that decision. World of Warcraft was a much-needed bit of escapism (in which I killed lesser critters and monsters of all varieties).

I’m not saying just giving in on off-days is the way to go. Far from it in fact. It’s a matter of determining if your off-day is one you know you can recover from, one you should just accept as a productivity-killer, or one you can use as a powerful motivator to get shit done. Sure, that’s a bit of a simplified way of looking at things, but I like things simple. Simple is what I see every morning when I look in the mirror, so I embrace it. Haw haw.

Now, I’m certainly no proper motivational speaker. I’d end up being like Pinocchio in that one Geico commercial. I do think I know the creative process a little better than I used to, and so here we are. It’s important to not let the off-days get you down. I like to remind myself of that sometimes, especially when I dive deep into my “I’m a failure and will never accomplish anything” mindsets. It’s what takes an off-day and prevents it from becoming an off-week. An off-month. Speaking from experience, I can say off-months are the worst sort of Hell a creative mind can find itself trapped in (shy of, you know, dying). Fight those days when you can, accept them when you can’t, and punch them right in their ugly goddamn faces and turn them into days of endless creation that leave you exhausted from all the cool shit you did whenever possible.

I’d love to go on longer, but my brain is honestly a big old heap of disappointment today, and, quite frankly, I find myself wanting to enjoy a little WoW before I go to bed. I hope all of you other writers, artists, musicians, and any other creative folks have had a better day than I, and if you didn’t know that these little funks can be stamped out. Even if sometimes, but only sometimes, it’s okay to embrace those unhelpful little fuckers and just laze about so you can recharge your batteries and move along.

Seventy-six days remaining.