Tuesday night, I was at an all-author planning meeting for our local Rivers of Ink writers meet readers conference. After the formal part of the meeting wrapped up, the mingling and snacking part of the meeting began. During this time, I was approached by an unpublished writer who had written a novel about a werewolf. He asked me to read it for him.
Looking at his earnest face, knowing that I am also unpublished, I felt obligated to say yes. I resisted. I had to say no. I have a busy family life, work life, and writing life already. To commit to reading this stranger’s novel was more than I could do.
In fact, I had a sudden feeling of standing at the top of a very tall slippery slope; one on which I could very easily lose myself. Lose my writing time and personal reading time to helping others with their writing.
My husband can hardly ever say no and I have difficulty with it but in this case I steeled my resolve and said it. No.
How easy is it for you to say no?
