Living like the characters

First, congratulations to CrystalGB for winning last month's giveaway! I've emailed you, Crystal.

This month I wanted to talk about what gets us through the tough times. Work was absolutely horrendous in late April and early May and I barely had time to scratch myself, much less have some fun. So I had to be kinda picky about what I did with the little spare time I did have.

Here's what I did:

a) I read. I was into science fiction romance this time around - there's some really interesting stories and ideas around at the moment. Although one that I picked up that I thought was science fiction turned out to be an urban fantasy based on some Indian mythology, which was interesting.

b) I watched only my favourite television shows. No wasting time with things I wasn't interested in. If it didn't float my boat right away, it got kicked to the curb.

c) I made time for my friends. Sometimes I was so tired I didn't want to, but still I got off the couch, made myself dress and went out to see them and it was always worth it.

d) I made time for my husband. Really important - I couldn't always prioritise time with him every day, but I made sure I arranged things that at least ever second day, we had some quality time together.

e) I said no. I said no to events that didn't interest me or didn't involve me hanging with friends. I said no to stressing about deadlines and putting that aside until I needed to panic. I said no to doing things I 'should' be doing that really could be put off.

And it occurred to me - why only make those decisions when things are tough? Why not live the life I want to live ALL THE TIME?

My characters get to have interesting, exciting lives all the time on the page because you just don't write the boring bits. So why live the boring bits in my own life?

Onto something, or maybe I'm going completely crazy. We'll see :)

What do you do to get through the tough times? I'd love to hear.

Have a great month everyone!

PS - if you love vampires, come visit my blog tomorrow (22 May) - Daniel de Lorne, a new writer with a great novel out, talks his favourite vampires.