This is a reissue of this post with a few updates. Call it How to care for your author 2.0. Every author has their own rituals and methods for balancing writing. By no means is this the absolute right way, but it is what I have learned worked for me so far on this journey.
I am very lucky that my main job gives me time to work on being an author. I am a home health care provider and small business owner. While I work on generating clients I also take care of pills and doctor schedules, cleaning. I am lucky to have the free time to write and work on my author platform.
Now that you have a little background on my work let’s get to the 5 ways that I care for my inner author.
1) Be kind to yourself. I've talked about being kind to yourself because the world is going to give you enough criticism. This seemed to be more important when I began revising my novels. My inner critic is vicious as I am sure many people can relate to. I am learning to shut up that critic, and it is a on going process. I remind myself that everyone starts at the same place when it comes to writing. I even take a few moments and ask if I would say these criticisms to others.
2) Have plenty of your favorite beverage on hand. I love hot tea. My boyfriend and roommates try to make sure that I have plenty of English Breakfast on hand. Sadly my favorite place to buy this tea closed. So the search begins to find a new dealer. If you can have someone learn how you like your beverage of choice and can make it for you is even better. 3) Take breaks with purpose and learn to roll with the flow.
Sometimes life is going to get in the way and keep you from editing or writing that day. When writing the novel I found there were days that I would struggle to get a sentence out. I found it best to have a back up plan for these things;
-I could work on like research or planning out later scenes for those days. If I work on something for the book then I didn’t feel as bad about not writing.
-If the distraction life throws at you takes you away from your normal workspace. Say a doctors appointment. Take a few moments and maybe put a character there and see what would happen or people watch. Sometimes I work on describing people while I people watch. When it has come to revising. I giving myself a week to work on a chapter. As long as I get it done in the week I don’t feel so bad.
4) Make time for self-care and make it a priority.
Taking care of myself is the best investment I can make. People rely on me to be at my best and to have my shit together at a moments notice. I have been making a self-care plan and adding to it. Taking care of yourself even the little boring things are so important.
5) Have a support team. I am very lucky to have the best partner and friends for my support group. They cheer me up and are there when feel like I am the worst author in history. They let me bounce ideas off them and listen to when I babble about whatever I am excited about at the moment. Some of them even know how I take my tea. I recommend joining a writing group or a knitting group. Make friends and have something that isn’t your job.
I hope that these ideas help you get started on having the best writing year. I am so happy that you have been signing up to take this journey with me. Please sign up for my email newsletter today. I send out 4 emails a year with special deals and content for you. I look forward to sharing this journey with you all.
Book reading goal is at 20 out of 40 I am half way to my goal
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I was also Wit & Travesty #Writercrushwednesday last week I am so honored that they picked me. I am also working on my bookish bingo for March
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