Frustration, Puppies, and Writing

You are going to see a lot of puppy analogies this week. Today, it is about frustration. Our puppy is 12 weeks old and at this stage everything is going in her mouth: our hands, our feet, our shoes, our pant legs and everything in between. It is very easy for us to get frustrated with her. And then ourselves for our frustration. It is easy to forget she is a puppy who is new to the world (only eleven weeks old) and does not know any better. We have to teach her everything.

That being said, taking a time out: one for the puppy and one for us is a good thing for our relationship and behaviour on both sides. For example, she was crazy this morning biting everything. I felt myself at my wits end. Nothing I did would distract her from “being bad”. I plopped her in her kennel for some alone time. Within two minutes she fell asleep. This was something she obviously needed but was too wound up to realize. And in the heat of the moment I did not realize it either.

This week when you are writing, be on the lookout for your frustration. Do not be afraid to take a break from your writing and do something else to clear your head. Whether it is taking a short nap, going for a bike ride, or taking a quick shower. Take the break and you will come back with a clearer head and a willingness to work.

But do not go away for too long! Taking too long a break causes guilt to enter into the equation and we already have enough guilt when it comes to our writing. Take a long enough break to refresh yourself but not sever your flow from your project or your writing goal for this week.

Happy writing!