I picked this mantra up from Sarah Aronson, author of Head Case and Beyond Lucky. Sarah holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and she co-founded the annual novel-writing retreats on that campus even before she completed her degree. Sarah is an enthusiastic, insightful, energetic speaker and when she talks, you gotta listen.

So I listened when she said, "celebrate your achievements" during one retreat, and then gave us ideas for celebrations large and small (some fine chocolate for meeting your word goal, a walk in a beautiful place for completing a difficult chapter, etc.). I was raised WASPY, as in the Pilgrims with their Calvinist concept of predestination WASPY, so celebrating is not necessarily in my character. (It's not that we didn't celibrate holidays or birthdays, but high marks on a report card, or a gold ribbon at the fair, not so much, those things were supposed to be their own reward.)

Now, I celebrate. Recent examples: The end of the teaching semester - a massage; the sending of the last MFA packet - a glass of wine and a catch-up episode of "Glee." Today, I sent my end-of-semester paperwork in. One afternoon this week, I'm taking myself to see "Rock of Ages," just because.

Do you celebrate your writing achievements? If so, I'd love to hear how.