No Means No...Except When It Means Maybe?

...or, in other words, do you know where your Crazymaker is? 

The Artist's Way's author, Julia Cameron identifies Crazymakers as  "those personalities that create storm centers. They are often charismatic, frequently charming, highly inventive, and powerfully persuasive. And for the creative person in their vicinity, they are enormously destructive. You know the type: charismatic but out of control, long on problems and short on solutions."

And--I speak from  personal experience--every family has at least one Crazymaker.  (Or rather only one, if you're lucky.)  Some of you must have misplaced yours because I seem to have more than my share! Please retrieve them!

My DD is my Crazymaker.  She has grown into a wonderful woman, but her organizational skills (or lack thereof) and tendency to overcommit lends itself to chaos.  Chaos that spills over into my life, and all too often, my writing time.  

Because I allow it to.  Julia Cameron is right.  And oh-so-smart.

Why do I allow it?  Why does no turn into maybe, and eventually--inevitably, yes?  

Ms. Cameron's theory is that we use our Crazymaker as an excuse not to create. To be honest, this is not something I do every time, at least not consciously, but, looking back, there are instances I've done just that.   

So now I've identified the enemy--myself (for the most part) and diagnosed the problem, what can I do about it? 

• Learn when to say yes, and when (and how) to say no.  Repeat the mantra above.  (A tincture of tough love may be needed here.)
• Examine my reason for saying yes.  Is it something I really want or need to do, or am I avoiding the blank page?
• Find someone to help me be accountable to myself. 
• Respect myself and honor my writing time.