No, Nope, Nuh Uh, Naw…

More often than not, I spend a large amount of my day making excuses. For any and everything. Explaining to clients why their 550 page book can’t be edited in an hour, explaining to distant relatives why I won’t have time to spend 2 hours a day on Skype with them to help them write their novel, explaining to close friends why I just can’t cook for the sixth day in a row because I’ve been so busy lately and….’and’ is the problem. So is ‘because’, ‘possibly’, ‘if’…the list goes on. There’s a quote that basically says that we have to learn to say no without explanation. Just ‘No’. I have problems doing so because, as a writer, I’m convinced that EVERYTHING must be thoroughly explained, in detail, so that it is understood. But explanation does not equal understanding, and more often than not people only hear what their listening for then tune out anyway so it’s hard to say that an explanation is ever really necessary. That’s what I’m working on currently. Saying ‘no’ and moving on to the next thing. Sounds easier than it is.