Going to take it easy

I’m going to have to mark today as half a day off.

I went to York this morning to see a Givens counsellor. I’ve struggled with low self esteem and lack of confidence for decades and tried all kinds of treatments and therapies with varying degrees of success. Two years ago I saw a hypnotherapist (Steve Bowkett who also writes book and often teaches at writers holidays/festivals). After two sessions with him, I tested the result by applying for the Weakest Link. My courage held and I went on the show but I was still finding it difficult to talk to new people. So now I’ve tried Givens. They use a rewind technique. It’s like putting the bad or negative parts of your life on film so that you can rewind and fast forward, back and forth to the point where the memories lose their impact. It seems to work. Since I first saw Debbie, I’ve applied to go another quiz show (just for fun), got to grips with Lulu (www.lul.com) , been on Radio Leeds and have got a few dates in my diary to go and talk to various groups,, plus I’m running workshops at both Swanwick and the NAWG festival.

This morning’s session was the second and hopefully the last I will need. The problem is, it’s left me feeling a bit drained so I need to go easy on myself for the rest of the day. I’m going out tonight – reading the questions for a quiz team. I had thought I was playing, but now I’m glad I can just sit there.

I’ve been giving writing lessons by email to two people who entered my last writing competition so I’m going to sort one of those out then circulate a few rejected stories then try to relax, ready for a full day’s work tomorrow.