I’ve hardly touched the book this week.

I could reel off a load of excuses: a ton of mundane life-stuff got in the way, I’ve been distracted and frankly my heart hasn’t been in it for a while. I know logically that I should have knuckled down regardless – next week is half term, so writing opportunities will be thin on the ground for a while.

But, today I watched the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy instead.

Then I started again from Season 1 Episode 1.

By the time I was half way through Episode 3, I realised something important: Grey’s Anatomy was the series I was obsessed over while I was in the discovery process for this book two years ago. I’m not sure whether I reached for it subconsciously, or it was just coincidence.

Either way, from that point on I started to pay more attention. I noticed how different plot threads were brought together to fit a theme. I noticed examples of external and internal conflict. I admired the excellent character portrayal and how dialogue was used to place higher significance on what wasn’t said than what was. I found myself getting excited about story again and thinking about how I would apply that to my own characters.

Of course, I’d love to retroactively claim that my day of slobbing in front of the TV was purposeful, guilt-free and well-deserved, but it would be a lie. However, sometimes it pays off to be lazy. I made progress on the book today, even if that progress can’t be counted in terms of scenes complete.

That’s good enough for me.