A Word of Enjoyment

One morning last week, I received an email from my editor.

The evening before, she’d sent back her latest edit of my book, and that morning I’d responded with; ‘Thank you for this, I’ll get on with it shortly’.

She immediately replied: ‘great - enjoy your day’.

A simple reply, but a reply that surprised me. 

She knew I’d be looking at my own work that day.

And she’d said enjoy.

Which is why I was surprised.

Enjoy?  My own work?

Isn’t that a bit, well, not quite the done thing?

I found myself recoiling from the idea.

Then a realisation of great irony hit me.

The book we're editing includes a section on creation.

God’s own work.

Work which He looked at and said, ‘this is good.’

In other words, He enjoyed it.

He took pleasure in what He’d done.

As I settled down at my computer, I determined to not only follow my editor’s advice on the manuscript (question an editor? Me? Never!) but to follow her ‘enjoy’ advice, too. 

I often let criticism over-ride enjoyment when reading my work.  Reading my work feels a bit like looking in a mirror, and I’m not a huge fan of mirrors.

But ‘enjoy your day’ said the email. 

I’d enjoyed writing the book, why shouldn’t I enjoy looking over it as well?

I wonder if I’m not the only one who needs reminding to enjoy their writing. Or to enjoy what they have written. Sometimes we can get so bogged down in life, or deadlines, or negativity, or pressures that maybe we forget that writing is such a wonderful thing – and we get to do it!  What a privilege. Whatever form our writing takes.

My favourite thing – or one of them - about writing is words.  I love to feel words and experiment with them.  I juggle them to see if they fly in unison or fall from the page like uncaught balls dropping to the floor.  If they fall, that’s ok.  I pick them up and try again.  Perhaps introducing a different ball this time. If they are destined never to fly well, that’s ok, too.  Because words don’t have to fly to be fun.

Even as I write about words – trying not to be too wordy - I am reminded of how much I enjoy writing. It’s the reading of my writing I find more difficult.  But perhaps my editor is right. No, my editor is definitely right. 

‘Enjoy your day…’ was, essentially, saying ‘Enjoy your writing’.

Later that day, I saw a post from a writer saying, ‘Yippee! My book has been shortlisted for an award.’

Enjoy your day…

I also discovered that my nearly three-year-old nephew has learned to write his own name. 'Look! I can write my name', as he proudly shows the mostly-decipherable squiggles.

Enjoy your day…

Whatever you write or read today….don’t forget to enjoy your day.