I woman who attends the Northwest Author Series asked me recently how I stay so positive. I assume she meant amongst publishing full-systems change.
I jokingly replied that I am more Tigger than Eeyore and that’s pretty much how I roll. It’s not in my nature to go down and stay down. What can I say? Like Tigger, I bounce.
On very rare occasion, I might stay down for a minute, or ten, just to catch my breath, but Tiggers don’t despair and we don’t agonize. There’s too much to do. Too much to be optimistic about. No point in beating ourselves up, if there is still time to make a comeback.
I try to encourage my students to make a comeback whenever possible and not, like Eeyore, to view neutral situations as negative without trying, at least, to aright whatever is going awry.
You will have good days and bad. And still, you will keep springing forward. But if you don’t feel bouncy quite yet, go ahead and lay low for a while. The world won’t stop spinning. You are allowed to take a little time off.
On bad days, you might actually be more motivated to find your bounce, than on good days. The happier I am, the harder it is for me to focus. Go figure.
If you want to write, you can’t be a cynic. It would be too easy, almost absurdly easy, to see everything going on in publishing as a negative. Worse to twist what you see to your own advantage, when it’s not really the truth about what’s going on.
And remember, what goes down, usually comes back around.