13 Survival Reminders for Writers
One writer says to survive as a writer you need to allow yourself to accept these 13 things.
One writer says to survive as a writer you need to allow yourself to accept these 13 things.
1. It’s all right to want to be alone.
2. It’s all right to refuse (nicely) dinner and party invitations.
3. It’s all right, even if they, or your social conscience, nags, “It’s for only one evening.”
4. It’s all right to have few friends—very few.
5. It’s all right not to want to go to lunch with them, stay on the phone, or trade incessant cute emails.
6. It’s all right not to want to go on vacation.
7. If you do, it’s all right to pack current writing projects.
8. It’s all right, on the cruise ship or in the hotel, to settle in at midafternoon in the empty club lounge, your writing materials spread out on a cocktail table and tall glass of herbal tea nearby.
9. It’s all right not be up on the latest movies/TV series/games/reality sensations/sports playoffs, and in conversation to mutely nod and smile.
10. It’s all right to announce to your significant other(s) that you need this hour/evening/day/weekend/week to work on your writing.
11. It’s all right to make dates with your significant other(s) so they know you haven’t forgotten them and want to be with them but that you’re not available all the time.
12. It’s all right not to join a writing group, enlist a critique partner, engage a beta reader, post your work on a public authors’ site, no matter how many blogs you read about how helpful they are.
13. It’s all right, over and over, to choose to follow your inner knowing and sit, stand, stretch, or pace at your desk—alone, blissful, writing.
Author, editor, dissertation and writing coach, and spiritual counselor Noelle Sterne has published over 300 pieces in print and online venues, including Author Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Children’s Book Insider, Funds For Writers, Graduate Schools Magazine, GradShare, InnerSelf, Inspire Me Today, Pen & Prosper, Romance Writers Report, Textbook and Academic Authors Association, Transformation Magazine, Unity Magazine, Women in Higher Education, Women on Writing, Writer’s Digest, and The Writer. She has also published pieces in anthologies, has contributed several columns to writing publications, and has been a volunteer judge for Rate Your Story. With a Ph.D. from Columbia University, Noelle has for 30 years assisted doctoral candidates to complete their dissertations (finally). Based on her practice, her handbook addressing dissertation writers’ overlooked but very important nonacademic difficulties was published in September 2015 by Rowman & Littlefield Education. The title: Challenges in Writing Your Dissertation: Coping with the Emotional, Interpersonal, and Spiritual Struggles. In Noelle's previous book, Trust Your Life: Forgive Yourself and Go After Your Dreams (Unity Books, 2011), she draws examples from her academic consulting and other aspects of life to help readers release regrets, relabel their past, and reach their lifelong yearnings. Visit Noelle at her website: trustyourlifenow.com.
