The post below, "Say Yes To Yourself" is from Patti Digh's blog "37 Days" - http://www.37days.com/  (Thank you, Glenn Court for sending me the link.)

I think it really speaks to writers because we need time to write and it's often hard to claim that time when people around us have requests and needs. I love Patti's idea of no apologies and simply choosing not to do something.  

A week ago I emailed Anne Lamott and asked if we could send her the galley of my new book with the possibility of getting a cover quote from her. Minutes later I got an email back from her: she was sorry, she wrote, but for a number of reasons she had to say no. It was a very sweet direct message and I appreciated the speed in which she got back to me. (She has a new book coming out this month and asked if I'd spread the word that she's now on Twitter. So check her out if you're on Twitter.)

I realized I was truly a writer years ago when I said I couldn't be Snack Shack Mom for my daughter's Little League team because I was writing a book.  I then became one of the most unpopular mothers in Palos Verdes, California, but I got my book written.

Here's Patti Digh's take on saying Yes to ourselves. :

 

Why is it so much easier to say yes to other people than to ourselves?

Perhaps we don't need to investigate the why right now. Perhaps we just need to practice the yes. Perhaps in the practice of "yes" we come to understand the why.

 Let this be your practice in March: Say yes to yourself.

Keep in mind that this might look a lot like "no" to other people.

And that's okay.

Just try it for 37 days. See what it feels like to honor yourself, your energy, your need for space and quiet and whatever you long for.

"I appreciate the invitation to serve on your Board and I deeply support your cause. I am choosing to decline your offer at this time, but appreciate your thinking of me.

"It is so kind of you to invite me to make 500 homemade cookies in the shape of the continental U.S.A. for the band concert. I am unable to help at this time."

It is easy to feel we have to make excuses and explain why. We don't. It is also very easy to fall into language that decries our choice–like "I can't." You can, but you are choosing not to. Own the choice.

 Try it. You might like it. Shockingly, even if you say "no," life as we know it will continue. Sure, I know you could really rock that Board, those cookies, and that meeting. But if you give up your need for control and the "I can do it better" tape that runs in your head, life will go on.

And you might just carve out some time for yourself that you need, and that you deserve.

Practice saying "no" without apology in order to say "yes" with great enthusiasm to yourself. 

                                            – Patti Digh  from "37 Days"