{"id":6831,"date":"2022-06-30T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/townhouse\/articles\/a-little-rain\/"},"modified":"2022-06-30T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T22:00:00","slug":"a-little-rain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/","title":{"rendered":"A little rain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Oh, there are sunny days and rainy days, there are rise-with-the-lark days and please-an-extra-hour days.<\/p>\n<p>There are days of ease and days of grind. There are days of inspiration and days of nothing.<\/p>\n<p>There are days of multitudes and days where the same sad and solitary note tolls like the bell at evensong.<\/p>\n<p>They don\u2019t mean much, these grizzly days. Or if they mean anything, they are most likely to mean \u201cOh, I\u2019m coming down with an infection\u201d or \u201call this house- and family-admin is doing my head in; I need a break.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s not necessarily how we interpret them. Because we\u2019re idiot humans, we\u2019re more likely to interpret a lousy day as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I\u2019m a rubbish writer<\/li>\n<li>This book is hopeless<\/li>\n<li>My entire Work In Progress should be jettisoned<\/li>\n<li>This idea is basically a bad one<\/li>\n<li>No agent or publisher or reader will ever want this<\/li>\n<li>Only extremely well-connected people called Charlotte or Tamara or Persephone ever get agents and I\u2019m not even called something sort of OK like Emma or Caroline or Rosalind. As a matter of fact, I\u2019m called Jason, and what\u2019s the use of that?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the end, though, you have to be grimly realistic about these things. This is about rigorous mind management, not some wishy-washy getting in touch with your feelings process.<\/p>\n<p>Your very first task is to acknowledge the truth. You\u2019re feeling bad. That&#8217;s almost certainly nothing to do with the book. It\u2019s just a passing mood (or a coming flu, or a sign that you\u2019re tired, or a hint that you need to deal with other parts of your life, or you need a holiday, or whatever.)<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re in that place, then don\u2019t even think about making decisions about your book. Quite the opposite. Just assume as fact that every negative thought you hold about your book and your writing is so much horse poo. You can\u2019t make useful decisions from that place. It\u2019s like trying to steer a car when the wheel will only turn one way.<\/p>\n<p>So deal with the underlying issue. The flu, the bills that need paying, the school problem that needs addressing, whatever it is. Address that stuff first.<\/p>\n<p>And don\u2019t bring blame into it. Don\u2019t heap guilt onto whatever other burdens you are already carrying. Why give yourself the heartache?<\/p>\n<p>Yes, OK, you might have an ethic which is 2 hours writing every day, or a minimum of 10,000 words a week, or whatever else. And yes, a big part of the purpose of those commitments is that they have a rain or shine quality to them. You don\u2019t have to want to do it, you just have to do it.<\/p>\n<p>But \u2013 be gentle on yourself. Be kind.<\/p>\n<p>There are days when really the bed is calling you. Let it. You won\u2019t write good words on those days. The two hours you spend in a front of a screen are two hours further from rest and recovery.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Please use this email as a FREE PASS to discharge yourself from writing duties whensoever you want. No guilt. No anxiety. No self-blame.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>(Do we need to place a cap on that pass? Well, OK, maybe. So you can use this pass up to 30 times a year. After that, you need a doctor\u2019s certificate.)<\/p>\n<p>Is that a deal? And, by the way, I rather hope it is, because I\u2019m having a rainy old day myself. I think I\u2019m coming down with something. I can\u2019t face a normal monster email. I\u2019m going to issue myself and redeem a free pass in the one same email.<\/p>\n<p>Please do the same. Whenever you want. And without guilt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oh, there are sunny days and rainy days, there are rise-with-the-lark days and please-an-extra-hour days. There are days of ease and days of grind. There are days of inspiration and days of nothing. There are days of multitudes and days where the same sad and solitary note tolls like the bell at evensong. They don\u2019t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29292],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harrys-friday-email"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jericho Writers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A little rain &#8211; Jericho Writers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Oh, there are sunny days and rainy days, there are rise-with-the-lark days and please-an-extra-hour days. There are days of ease and days of grind. There are days of inspiration and days of nothing. There are days of multitudes and days where the same sad and solitary note tolls like the bell at evensong. They don\u2019t\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jericho Writers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jerichowriters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-30T22:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Harry Bingham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JerichoWriters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@JerichoWriters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Harry Bingham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Harry Bingham\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34f531ec178a2b069ca3debe26c60e5a\"},\"headline\":\"A little rain\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-30T22:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/\"},\"wordCount\":633,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Harry\u2019s Friday email\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/\",\"name\":\"A little rain &#8211; Jericho Writers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-30T22:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A little rain\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/\",\"name\":\"Jericho Writers\",\"description\":\"Getting you published\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Jericho Writers\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/cropped-footer-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/cropped-footer-logo.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Jericho Writers\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jerichowriters\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/JerichoWriters\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jerichowriters\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/jericho-writers\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCcs1qhjwLR6bQYDR2x3PbOw\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34f531ec178a2b069ca3debe26c60e5a\",\"name\":\"Harry Bingham\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/harry-bingham_avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/harry-bingham_avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/harry-bingham_avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Harry Bingham\"},\"description\":\"Write novels and non-fic. I've published trad &amp; self-pub. Love both. Best known for my Fiona Griffiths crime series. Oh yes, and I'm the capo di tutti capi at Jericho Writers.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/author\/harryjericho\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jericho Writers","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"A little rain &#8211; Jericho Writers","og_description":"Oh, there are sunny days and rainy days, there are rise-with-the-lark days and please-an-extra-hour days. There are days of ease and days of grind. There are days of inspiration and days of nothing. There are days of multitudes and days where the same sad and solitary note tolls like the bell at evensong. They don\u2019t","og_url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/","og_site_name":"Jericho Writers","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jerichowriters","article_published_time":"2022-06-30T22:00:00+00:00","author":"Harry Bingham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@JerichoWriters","twitter_site":"@JerichoWriters","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Harry Bingham","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/"},"author":{"name":"Harry Bingham","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34f531ec178a2b069ca3debe26c60e5a"},"headline":"A little rain","datePublished":"2022-06-30T22:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/"},"wordCount":633,"commentCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Harry\u2019s Friday email"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/","name":"A little rain &#8211; Jericho Writers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-06-30T22:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/a-little-rain\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A little rain"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/","name":"Jericho Writers","description":"Getting you published","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#organization","name":"Jericho Writers","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/cropped-footer-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/cropped-footer-logo.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Jericho Writers"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jerichowriters","https:\/\/x.com\/JerichoWriters","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jerichowriters\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/jericho-writers\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCcs1qhjwLR6bQYDR2x3PbOw"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/#\/schema\/person\/34f531ec178a2b069ca3debe26c60e5a","name":"Harry Bingham","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/harry-bingham_avatar-96x96.jpg","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/harry-bingham_avatar-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/harry-bingham_avatar-96x96.jpg","caption":"Harry Bingham"},"description":"Write novels and non-fic. I've published trad &amp; self-pub. Love both. Best known for my Fiona Griffiths crime series. Oh yes, and I'm the capo di tutti capi at Jericho Writers.","url":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/author\/harryjericho\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6831\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}