Lecture Lesson for the Week of November 18th, 2019

[Sunny Irene Roth]

Hi ladies,

This week, I will be discussing how to write when everything seems to go wrong in your life and there is a lot of stress. I mean let's face it, we all have to deal with a lot in our daily lives. And many times, the stress levels we have to endure has a negative impact on our writing. Below, I offer six tips to ensure that you get some writing done, despite the fact that you are struggling or your week has a lot of stress in it.

May your heart be peaceful dear writer, and may you write!
Irene S. Roth

How to Write, Despite Life’s Stresses
Irene S. Roth​

For most of us, life will get in the way of our writing at some point. And many times, our best laid plans go by the wayside because we suddenly have a sick child or older parent in the house, or we have job-related stress. There is also family-related stress that can really zap your energy to write and make you feel like life is an uphill battle.

The good news is that there are ways to get even a bit of writing done, even though life is ripping in different directions all around you.

Here are a few tips and trick that I have tried over the years to keep writing despite stress and hardship in my life.

• Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a writing session. Just plan to write at another time. If possible, go to your planner within a few hours of missing your writing session and determine where you can find a bit of time to do even a bit of writing.
• Try not to take life too seriously. Try to breathe and take some time for self-care. Meditate or crochet. Sew something for your home. Do something to take your mind off the stress you are feeling. Then get back to your writing when you can.
• Remember, if there is a lot of stress in your environment it will be difficult, if not impossible, to write. So, try to remove yourself from your immediate environment by going to a library or café. Spend an hour or so out of the stress. Not only will you get some writing done, but you will feel better because you were able to de-stress.
• Try writing in small batches. You may want to write one or two hundred words at a time. Just write whatever amount you can. Even doing a bit of writing may inspire you to get more writing done later.
• Sometimes when the stresses get bad in our lives, the best thing we can do is to stop overthinking the situation we are in and escape into writing. This can help us come to terms with the situation once we have relaxed our mind by writing. Yes, writing can be relaxing. I discovered the gem of writing through stress in my own life when I was in the thick of problems. Try it if you haven’t.
• Set a timer and write, even if you don’t feel like it. You don’t have to set your timer for more than thirty minutes at a time. Just make sure that you write during that time and not cruise the internet or text people. Also, you may want to turn off the sound on your tech devices or leave them in another room.
• If you missed several writing sessions, perhaps you should plan a larger sprint of say one to two hours. Again, if your environment isn’t amenable to writing and creativity for that long because of stress of other issues polluting your environment, you may want to remove yourself from your situation and write in a library or café.
• Leave notes and outline more. This will let you know where you leave off should you go several days between writing sessions. This could inspire and encourage you to get back to work later as well.

By taking these steps, you will be writing during some of the most difficult times in your lives. None of us live on Waldon Pond in solitude away from everyone. So, we must learn to roll with the punches of life and still write.