My desk diary’s word for today is Warble – definition: to express or sing with trills. It got me thinking on how, as writers, we celebrate our accomplishments. I’m not just talking about getting a novel published here but the smaller victories such as defining a character, a story arc works out perfectly, our writing group congratulate us on a fine piece of writing…the list goes on – I think you get the picture.

Obviously getting a novel, novella, poem or short story published is marvellous and probably has us dancing and warbling around the house. However, to get to that particular point we have experienced (or are experiencing) numerous small victories. From the seed of an idea to the many hours of writing into the small wee hours, we overcome literary obstacles. The words can flow so fast we have trouble getting them on paper, a secondary character unexpectedly pushes to the forefront, the story takes a completely different direction…all of these are common occurrences. It is our ability to ‘surrender’ our process to these diversions that ultimately leads to celebration.

Nervously reading your first piece in front of a writing group or a friend being astonished that you can write are worth celebrating. Conquering writers block or concluding a story need celebration. How do you celebrate your ‘little’ victories? A glass of wine, a happy dance or a shout out on social media?

Our writing journeys are full of these delightful accomplishments – make sure you acknowledge them, they are your success however ‘small’.