The biggest emotional challenge of being a writer is trying to balance my passion for the craft, the time commitment required to bring an idea to fruition, and the demands of full-time work and parenting. I am a full-time teacher with three young children. I am also a “sandwiched” generationContinue Reading
The biggest emotional challenge: trying to keep the dream alive when all signs point to NO. Even once you’re published/have an agent/have an audience, there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to keep going/keep publishing/create a viable career. You’re only ever as good as your next book. Financially the odds areContinue Reading
You may not realize you’re suffering from creative burnout until you go on vacation. I thought I was doing what I needed to do to avoid creative and personal exhaustion, but when I took a few days to get away, I realized I wasn’t. Monkey Mind Has Its Way I’mContinue Reading
Procrastination is deadly to a writer. Writing a book is simply too big a task to accomplish in one or two short spurts. We need consistent effort over a long period of time to make it happen. If we put off our work until tomorrow, and tomorrow put it offContinue Reading
How do you keep writing when others don’t support you? In a recent Writing and Wellness survey, I asked respondents to share their biggest writing challenges. One answer in particular broke my heart. The writer explained that a bad relationship had left her with the nagging feeling that her writingContinue Reading
Let’s face it. No matter how creative we are, sometimes the ideas slow down. We get stuck in the mucky middle of the novel. Or no matter how many walks we take, we can’t work out a nasty plot entanglement. Or our characters fall flat, or our blogs run stale.Continue Reading