10 Essential Ways to Stay Positive as a Writer
It’s so easy to fall into negativity while building a writing career.
Writing — the actual butt-in-chair, fingers-to-keyboard, words-on-the-page labor of writing — is hard work. It takes time. It is mentally and physically exhausting.
Then there’s the rejection, the self-doubt, the overwhelming weight of unfinished projects…
Sound familiar?
If you find yourself slipping into negativity, practice these essentials to stay positive in your writing life and career.
Surrender
In my own writing, when I feel overwhelmed or stressed and begin to hear the whisper of negative thoughts, surrender is my first step to shifting back to a positive mindset.
Surrender control. Immediate relief comes to the writer who can let go of the belief that she controls the outcome of any work.
Surrender the outcome. Our job as writers is to create. We can arrive at the page to work with trust and confidence. We can write with the intention of unconditional service, with the gift of free and unwarranted merit. Beyond that, our job is done. Let the work live in the world and move forward in your next creative project.
Surrender to guidance. Know that the creative power will always work through you. You could not stop it if you tried. The words will come. They always do.
Follow Your Natural Creative Rhythm
Pushing ahead, forcing ourselves to write when we are depleted, leads to a negative view of the finished work. Some days, given the choice between forcing ourselves to write and giving up — we give up.
When I first started writing fiction in college, I adopted the standard that serious authors wrote 1000 words a day. Famous authors like Steven Pressfield, Ray Bradbury, and Stephen King all suggested this daily output.
I forced myself to write 1000 words a day. Some days I wrote 1000 words and stopped, even if I had more ideas. Other days, I pushed myself to that 1000-word mark, and eventually ended up rewriting or deleted entire pages because the ideas were forced or rushed or inadequate.
It took many years to find my creative rhythm. Writing involves more than adding word count. It also includes outlining, editing, rewriting, revising, brainstorming new ideas, or managing the marketing or administration tasks of running an author business.
Some days we need to create new words. Some days we need to reflect on the ones we’ve already written. Instead of forcing daily output, we can honor our creative rhythms and decide which work needs to be done in that moment.
Rest
Writing is hard work. It’s work in which we often lose ourselves, hunched over our screens for hours at a time. We forget appointments. We forget to eat or go outside. We forget to stand up and move around once in a while.
We forget to rest.
Or we feel like we can’t.
I grew up in a working-class family where I learned that a job is a person’s security. Without work, you’re lazy, you’re a burden to others. You don’t make money without steady work. You don’t advance in life without striving to achieve and produce.
While all of that may be true, it is also impossible to work non-stop, even when you love your vocation. It is especially difficult to produce creative output — like writing — hour after hour, day after day, without sacrificing the quality of the work or your personal health and wellness.
You won’t go bankrupt if you spend evenings with your family. You won’t suffer failure if you spend an entire weekend without writing. Accept the importance of rest and stillness after periods of activity and productivity.
It is safe to rest. It is essential.
Celebrate Every Accomplishment
Publication is the goal for most writers. Whether we’re self-publishing or submitting to agents or magazines, the goal is to share the work, sell the work, and get paid…so we can continue the work.
The problem? Publication happens intermittently. We may release a new book a few times a year. A blog post a couple times a week. An article or short story occasionally when we find a paying market.
As professional writers, we’re writing almost every day. That’s a lot of days in between those quarterly book releases or weekly blog posts. And the big projects don’t get completed in one sitting. A novel is a huge multi-step undertaking. A blog is a series of efforts of scheduling and research and writing and posting and marketing.
We can celebrate the daily steps in the grand series of our efforts.
Finally finished the scene that’s been torturing you for months? Give yourself the afternoon off.
Posted the personal story on your blog you’ve been avoiding because fear has kept you from sharing it? Buy that new novel you’re dying to read.
Found the perfect quote for introduction, the ideal image for the post, the best turn of phrase for the closing call to action? Dance around the room! Eat a cookie! Or simply sit and absorb the delicious feeling of accomplishment!
Celebrate! Celebrate! Celebrate!
Realize Oneness
Comparison is a habit most writers fall into at some point in their careers. We compare the quality of our writing to others, our current work to our past work, our rank on the sales list with writers in our same genre, our number of Facebook followers with a famous author’s immense following.
Jealousy comes from fear, and we all experience it. We fear rejection, failure, embarrassment.
That writer with the three-book deal and the number one spot on the bestseller list? She is going through the exact same creative process as you, complete with fear, resistance, and self-doubt. She continued to work despite those feelings, and so can you.
We are all the same. We are all parts of one creative energy, with one shared purpose.
To create our work and send it out into the world. It is a simple, but scary, experience, and no writer is exempt.
Help Other Writers
When you realize that all writers are part of one whole creative effort, it becomes clear that an essential way to stay positive in your writing career is to help other writers.
It’s a common theme that when you feel down and out, the first thing to do is help someone else. That works in the writing world, too.
If you’re blocked with negativity, connect with other writers online or in person. Critique pages, share information. Help another writer who is a few steps behind you in her career. As you climb the ladder of success, always reach back to help the next person up.
Remember Your Inherent Worth
Writing is something you do. It is not who you are. Your worth is inherent in your being alive. All the rest is just a game. We are here in existence for a short while to learn, grow, and become who we are. For part of that existence, we’ve chose to write.
But when we place your happiness or worth on anything outside ourselves, we suffer. That includes writing.
You are more than any one book you write.
You are more than any mistake you might make or failure you might endure.
Your career is not this novel. Your career is your talent, and you are growing stronger in your unique talent every day.
Whatever happens, the essential part of you will be just fine.
Protect Yourself
There is value in reading reviews, receiving critiques, and following social media posts about our writing. It’s important to engage with our audience and readers and receive feedback from what we are presenting to the world.
However…
There is a time and place for acknowledging others’ reaction to your work.
It’s not while you’re creating it.
It’s not while you are feeling vulnerable or stuck in self-doubt.
It’s not when you’re depleted of creative energy, stuck in fear, or otherwise tired, exhausted, or stressed.
I have personally fallen into this trap. I allow my fear of lack to create worry about money, which leads to checking KDP reports to check if I’ve sold any books in the last hour. And when I see that no great spike in sales has magically happened, that only feeds my fear and the cycle continues.
When I stick to my normal schedule of recording sales at the end of each month, I can make sure I’m prepared mentally for any surprises.
Open yourself to audience reaction only when you are feeling strong and in a positive mindset. This way you are aware that others’ opinions of your work are just that — their rightful opinion and not an attack on you, your being, or your inner self.
Accept the Inner Critic
Every writer has experienced that voice in our heads that tells us the writing is terrible, we’ll never make it as a writer, our current novel is going to flop.
Realize that this inner voice is not your own. Why would your highest self every try to diminish or discourage you? There is no purpose to it.
The inner critic is the voice of fear. And it may not be of your own making. It’s likely an echo of opinions and fears of well-meaning friends and family (“You can’t make a living as a writer!” “What are you going to fall back on?”) that you’ve heard and collected, possibly from years ago, that pop up when you’re most vulnerable.
You can acknowledge this voice, this fear, and then let it pass through you. If you try to resist or hide from your fear, that leads to major problems. Recognize it as a temporary reaction to some long ago rejection or negative experience.
Then come back to the present. In this moment, you can choose to move forward in your work in faith and trust of your higher self.
Embrace the Paradox of Writing
For many writers, our work is an expression of our deepest thoughts and emotions. We were called to writing at a young age. We have carried on with it for years, decades even. We try, we agonize, we give up. We try again.
Writing is important.
Also — and this is the part we forget — it is not important at all.
Words are, at best, merely a reaction, an echo, a reflection of the writer’s emotions and thoughts of their experiences of existence.
The novel you’re writing or the articles and essays you’re posting are representative of your body, mind, and spirit. You pour your every energy into it. It is your life’s work.
And yet…
It’s only a story, an article, one person’s opinion, a piece of text for readers to consume and transform with their own reactions and opinions.
No person’s life hangs in the balance over the plot of your novel. The fates of nations do not rest on your latest screenplay.
You may intend to change hearts and minds, but you cannot force them. Your wrenching memoir about conquering your addictions may save the life of a reader in a similar situation, but only if she chooses to let it.
It’s easy to forget our insignificance. We are caught up in the importance of our writing because it is so important to us. We agonize over an opening paragraph as the world turns, indifferent to our plight. We suffer when the words on paper aren’t matching the grand aspirations that led us to begin the work in the first place, and yet the sun sets and rises again on our suffering without fail.
Step back. Breathe. It is only words on paper.
Find joy in the creative process. Find satisfaction in every finished project.
That way, in the midst of even the most negative mindset, you can stay positive in the integrity that you created the work with good purpose.
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