Bad habits will stall your writing career before it has a chance to start!
Writing can be a difficult profession. The nature of your chosen career isolates you. Most of us call our creativity by different names but it is all the same “feeling” rather you are a well-established author or just beginning your venture into the craft... we experience those same moments of transcendent connection when everything flows. A kind of high that we don’t want to come down from and wish we didn’t have to. Writing stirs passion, it brings light into the darkness and it is that point of hope and perfection in an otherwise hopeless and imperfect world that we strive to acquire. It is a well of sorts that must be rejuvenated, refilled and fed.
The trouble was that I found myself getting up in the morning and sitting down to my computer before fully awake with a cup of coffee that usually got cold while I picked up where I left off at 3:00 am. I would get up to grab a sandwich when I was starving. BAD... Doing life this way, while crazy productive at times, it leads to burn out or brain fog or even anxiety, writer’s block. I could go for days without sight of or speaking to another human being. I was fine with that. I was fine with it all... it took its toll.
If you want to write the best stories you can write, your mind and body must be at peak performance. I don’t mean you have to be some kind of health nut... but you must take care of yourself or the well runs dry. Here are some tips that worked for me and I am going to split them into three posts so that I can cover them thoroughly.
I began to do some research. There were six points I believed would improve my personal wellbeing and so I laid out a plan. These were a flexible schedule or routine, food, regular sleep, more water, exercise, and social interaction.
Routine or Schedule: If you get this right, the rest sort of follows along. This one is not so easy to get right and it varies from person to person. If you have a day job or not, children or not... Do you see? There is no one perfect fit for everyone but getting this one right is tantamount to conquering the rest.
Do the same thing each morning. Get up at the same time, warm lemon water before coffee works for me. I do breakfast and take my supplements and then make my bed, clean my house and take a walk before beginning my workday. Long walks where I try to be present in the moment. I have grown to love these times. I live in a beautiful, rural area with abundant wildlife and beautiful woods. I don't always get it right, but this has worked for me, and it still is... one day at a time.
Write every day!
“The first and best victory is to conquer self.” — Plato