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
Let’s face it—some days, your writing creativity is lacking. Maybe you had a tough day, you didn’t get any sleep, or you’ve just been working really hard lately. Stress, negative emotions, and overwork all decrease your ability to be creative and original. Yet sometimes we just can’t help it—life happens,Continue Reading
Do you have a to-do list? As writers, we spend a lot of time learning what “to do” in terms of plot, characterization, setting, pacing, and more. We also try to learn what to do when it comes to social media, marketing, publishing, and other parts of the business sideContinue Reading
by Heidi DuPree Within a week of publishing my first book, The Other Medicine That Really Works: How Energy Medicine Can Help You Heal in Body, Mind and Spirit, my life was in a tailspin. I had just spent three years writing a lifetime’s worth of information and insights gainedContinue Reading
~Writing Well Wednesday Tip~ We all do it. We give ourselves an out. “I’ll write tomorrow,” we say, fully intending to do it, but then tomorrow comes and the writing doesn’t happen. You may be setting (or have already set) writing goals for 2018. Beware of “excusitis,” as it canContinue Reading
As we come to the end of the year, I thought it would be fun to share my top 10 books for 2017. Like most writers, I love reading, and feel like I can never read as many books as I’d like to. But I’ve made room in my scheduleContinue Reading
Need some inspiration for a new year of writing? Last year and the year before, I put together some of the best quotes from the author features here on Writing and Wellness, and highlighted them in a single post. Those posts were among the most popular here on the site,Continue Reading
For me, the biggest physical challenge is getting so wrapped up in the writing that I sit in the same position for hours until one of legs goes dead, or something like that. I can feel the discomfort creeping up but it’s the case of “just until I get toContinue 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
by Beth Castrodale In late 2014 and early 2015, both of my elderly parents died within four months. Although their deaths were far from unexpected, I found myself unable to forge ahead on the novel I’d been working on over the previous two years. Against the loss of my parents,Continue Reading
by Ann Marie Ackermann I discovered a historical murder case in a 19th-century forester’s diary here in Germany, where I live. The forester detailed his role in a murder investigation. The mayor of Bönnigheim was assassinated in 1835 and a letter came from the USA in 1872 offering the solutionContinue Reading
My family and I took a trip to Alabama one year to see my younger brother, who was attending military school there at the time. We went out to lunch at a cute little restaurant, and when the waitress asked if we wanted something to drink, I requested, as IContinue Reading