Can a Stressed Writer be a Successful Writer?

Living in the 21st century is stressful for most of us, despite life being easier than it's ever been. Technology is at its most remarkable, in the forms of mobile telephones, text messages, emails and Skype. You can achieve most things by clicking a button, or so it seems. And although some things have now been made possible, compared to a hundred years ago, one damaging thing is now ubiquitous, and that is stress.

Most writers experience stress at some point in their careers. Most writers have day jobs too, so they worry whether they will have enough time to write a satisfactory amount in a week. They seem to worry constantly about plot lines, character development, copyright, and whether their book will actually sell once it's published. Then there's the added turmoil of marketing - a whole different ball game which the writer must manage efficiently. So it's a wonder the majority of writers don't have a breakdown and give up completely.

But that's the thing about stress, it doesn't always have to have the same result. You can either panic, have a meltdown and never write another word again, or you can accept stress is normal in life now and work your way through things.

The huge benefit of being self employed is you can take a break whenever you feel things are getting too much. But the pivotal point of this blog is to recognise when you've reached that point. If you feel yourself worrying constantly, are prone to panic attacks and have sleepless nights, then your stress levels sound like they could be rising.

Stress is a major killer in the UK. It causes heart disease, eczema  headaches, high blood pressure, some people even say it causes certain types of cancer and diabetes, and those are just the physical effects.

When I get stressed I can't think straight. My brain feels like it's just been wrung out like a wet dish cloth. I get anxious and irritable, and the last thing I feel like doing is writing. For me, my writing flows best when I am relaxed and calm. My creative juices can pour out of of me without encountering any blockages. If I was stessed all the time, I fear I would struggle to write.

But what about you? Are you the same as me, or do you feel that a certain amount of stress helps you get things done?

Can Writing be Taught?

I've been published for nearly a year now, and during that time I have often wondered whether it would be worth my while to go back to college/university to obtain a qualification in creative writing.

But something has always stopped me, and that thought is: how can I guarantee the course will be worth my time, and most importantly, my money? So after a long time thinking this through, I came up with this answer:

• No college or university course can ever come with any guarantees, no matter what you study. But degrees in creative professions seem less likely to promise a successful career in whatever direction you decide to go in.

Now I am not saying degrees are pointless full stop ... far from it. If you want to become a lawyer you have to study law, and there's absolutely no way around that. If you want to become a journalist or a copy editor, you have to obtain a degree in a specialised subject. But I have always been someone to think that great art cannot be taught.

Creative writing courses might be able to teach you vital grammar skills and great sentence construction, but I honestly think that the most effective way to become a great writer is to teach yourself.  After all, how many best selling novelists can you think of with creative writing degrees? I bet there isn't as many as you might think. Reading voraciously and learning how other writers are successful are two fantastic ways to start off with. Study characters profiles, setting scenes, plotlines and pacing.

And as the publishing industry is changing so much, I think if there was any degree I would love to have it would have to be in marketing. As with most writers, I love to put pen to paper, finger to keyboard, but marketing really stresses me out!

What do you think? How many of you have degrees in creative writing, and are they as useful as some people make them out to be? Please share your views with me.

How to be Happy

Two weeks ago I blogged about the reasons why it's unproductive to be happy, but I have since thought maybe it is better to be happy for most of the time. If you're the sort of person who is cheerful and just has the occasional 'down' day, then that's perfectly normal and nothing to worry about.

But what if you're someone who find themselves on the darker side of life more often than they see the brighter part? More worryingly, what if this is you and yet you're so used to feeling down, you no longer see it as a problem?

I've read several blogs this week that highlight this problem, and reading those articles has inspired me to do my own take on this aspect of life. Coincidentally, this problem might have just been an issue for me until last week I decided to do something about it ...

Having a life in the 21st century can be extremely stressful, tiring and demanding. It seems it is no longer enough to have just one job anymore, some people struggle to keep their head above water even when they earn a decent wage and work full time. Single mothers have to work and raise their children, while running a house, all at the same time.

Now I do not have the above problems. Fortunately I am financially secure with a roof over my head and do not have children to run me down. I am blessed with time to concentrate on my writing while still having the chance to breathe. But can this actually be a bad thing? Spending most of my time just concentrating on my goals and what I want to achieve by the time I am thirty? Well, yes, it can be, to a certain extent. Here's why:

• I spend most of my time focused on my next goal that I literally do nothing else apart from work closer towards that ambition. And believe me, this isn't as great as it sounds. I lose contact with everyday situations, people, and life in general.
• The more focused I am, the more ambitious I want to become, so I go into overdrive, get extremely stressed and snappy.
•  The longer I continue to repeat the cycle of only focusing on a few things and generally over working, the more I lose sight of the things that once made me happy, contented and relaxed. Because I can only see the carrot on the stick that's just out of reach, I forget who I am and what I live for. 

For the past two and a half years, I have just wanted to concentrate on writing. And as a result I have never been so focused on anything else in my entire life. Day in, day out, I do the same things over and over again. Sure, this is a great method in ensuring things actually get done and not just put off until another day, but after a while it can become extremely boring. I've lived my life like this for nearly three years so it's no wonder I nearly went mad.

But last week I decided to do something different. I had the opportunity to go elsewhere in the country for a couple of days, all by myself. Now this is something I haven't done in over four years, and back then, travelling alone seemed to be the only thing that I did.

During my three days' away, I had the opportunity to see someone from my past life, someone from my travelling days. I was never expecting to see this person again, and it was great to catch up with them. But what made my time away so great was the fact that it gave me the chance to be me again before I became so stuck into writing.

So, if you're worried that you might be stuck in a boring old rut, take the opportunity to get away for a few days and catch a glimpse of another life. After all, it's important to remember happy times.

More blogs on this subject:

Dee's blog: http://www.sherfordbear.co.uk/blog/2012/03/02/Do-you-think-youd-be-happier-if.aspx
Susanne Lakin's blog: http://www.livewritethrive.com/2012/03/05/no-writer-is-an-island/

Let's Get Positive!

This post sort of ties in with the post I typed last week. I was buzzing because I received two high star reviews on Amazon and because of those reviews, I was brimming with positive energy.

The way I was feeling last week inspired today's post, as I thought how amazing it is just how a positive attitude can drive you forwards to achieve so much more than you ever imagined possible. When something positive happens, it almost forces you to believe good things can happen. Your confidence receives a boost and you start to think you can accomplish goals that were once previously unreachable. You find yourself with more energy and motivation to get things done, and you want to show the world how successful you are.

So, when life gets in the way of our dreams, how can we still maintain our new positive attitude? Well ...

•  Have faith in yourself. Make it your mission to make everyday better than the last one, no matter how much criticism you receive. If you write well and someone praises you for it, you'll be inspired to write further in more or less the same way. If you write but receive negative views, analyse their comments in depth and find ways to improve your writing.
• Keep things in perspective. Every decision you make in life will not be positive and vice versa. People make mistakes all the time but that's only part of being human. To fail is positive because it means you have taken a chance on something. It's just this time it didn't work out how you wanted it to. But maybe in the future things will turn around, you've just got to be brave and push yourself outside your comfort zone to take chances more often. 
• Socialise with like minded people. Humans' generate energy which other people absorb. If this energy is positive then it'll only recharge your batteries.

So, is your attitude to life positive? What gets you down, and how do you restore your positive energy? What, or who, inspires you the most?

Why it's Unproductive to be Happy

This week has started on a high note for me and I hope it continues to last. I received two high ratings and reviews on Amazon.com, all in the space of twenty four hours. As many writers will know, reviews can be hard to come by, so I was understandably delighted when two turned up at once. And as you can imagine, I had so much buzz inside of me I was absolutely sure I could keep the entire city of London powered up for the next week.

So, what has this got to do with the title of my post? How can someone question whether happiness is as positive as most of us think it is? Surely happiness can't be a negative emotion, can it? Well, umm, maybe... sometimes.
Now before you read on any further, I just want to reinstate that I am absolutely overjoyed with my two new reviews, and I don't think they are negative in any sense of the word. But the point I'm trying to make here is they inspired this post. Sometimes when people experience such feelings of complete happiness, they become complacent, lazy, and fall into a unstable mindset. They start to think that because they have received so much praise, they do not need to work any harder. They see their work as perfect and flawless and woe betide anyone who doesn't share this view. So for their next project they fall into a false sense of security, thinking this work is going to be just as good as the last piece.

I am hoping this doesn't happen to me. I don't think it will because I am aware of the potential problem, and have always been a bit of a perfectionist. I always seem to worry whether I'll let people down by the standard of work I produce, thus ensuring my work is always the best it can be at the current time. I hope each book I write it will be better than its predecessor.

I read a newspaper article the other week where one news presenter shares my view on this subject. She said she didn't want her children to have a happy, contented childhood because she is worried that if they do, they'll grow up without ambition. Now this on the surface sounds like the most terrible thing in the world to say. How could any parent say this and expect it to be met with a round of applause? But when you delve a little deeper, I do think she makes a fair and valid point. If you are contented and happy, you do not want things to change. But if you're unhappy with your current situation, surely you should be doing everything in your power to change that? You want to live the best life you can possibly achieve, and that takes work no matter what your situation.
It's a tough nut to crack. Should you be happy if you're contented, or is there always room for improvement? Do people take the persuit of happiness too far? What are your opinions?

For me, it's the cliched saying: onwards and upwards.

Why it's Productive to be Lazy

I read a fantastic blog post by Joe Bunting the other day. I am a regular follower of his blog anyway but this post really got me thinking. He discussed how having at least one day off a week to rest is crucial in the long run for your productive state.

Now, I don't know about people in general but I am the type of person who will go stir crazy if I am sat around with nothing to do. I know this is some people's idea of bliss but I have to have goals set out to be completed at the end of each day. It is what I do and how I function. I may not be able to write a novel every week but there isn't a day that goes by where I am not one step closer to finishing one of my projects. I find I can cope better when I have the chance to work each day instead of taking copious amounts of time off, and then stressing out at the end of it when I realise there isn't enough time to finish what I want to do.

So, you can imagine how I reacted to Joe's post when I first read it. I can barely cope when I am doing nothing for just one hour, never mind one whole day. I began to think of how much I could actually cram into twenty four hours. At least several hours of writing, reading and typing. Dog walking, housework and spending time with friends. It seems that if I wasted the time it would put me behind by a considerable amount.

But then I started to think about what he was really saying. Our bodies are nothing but machines and if they're constantly working they are going to burn out quickly. And as a writer there's nothing worse than suffering from a bad case of burn out. When you're exhausted your immune system lowers its defences and you're more susceptible to infection. Your brain seizes up and you can no longer think. Joe also discussed how you can be more disciplined when you allow yourself a chance to rest, and that is a point where I completely agree. If I actually spent a day doing nothing and thought about what I would like to do over the coming week, I know my brain would be more focused on achieving those goals. I would be more conscious of the fact that I needed to work because I have allowed myself some time off.

I think self employed people have a hard time realising they should take some time out. After all, time is money, and money is time. The more you work the more products you'll have to sell. But are you focused on doing productive work or just work in general?

2012 is a busy year for me. I am now close to finishing my second book and my wedding is in the autumn. So from now on I will be spending my time as wisely as I can.

If you want to read Joe's post please follow this link: http://thewritepractice.com/stop-being-so-disciplined/#.T0E6uTWSNqM.twitter

So, how productive is this year turning out to be for you?

How Does Pacing Work in a Manuscript?

Last week I touched on how to set the perfect scene - advice given from The First Five Pages, a book by Noah Lukeman, who is a leading literary agent from New York.

This week I'll be covering another issue that Lukeman looks at: Pacing.

Pacing is something else I need to work on as a writer, and on the whole I think most writers struggle with this element as well. How many times have you left a book half way through because the plot didn't seem to be going anywhere, and how many times has a whole chapter covered only one issue when it could have covered a lot more?

I think pacing can be a very difficult issue to deal with because it's something which runs through the whole story. I personally find that pacing is often linked with setting: does the writer spend too long describing the setting which is irrelevant to the book's plot at that present time? The reader doesn't need to know what type of trees are in the wood if someone is about to be murdered, unless the tree type plays a crucial part in the storyline. Too often writers spend time describing objects which have no relevance to the scene and leave out vital information about the things that do matter. The author might describe the tree type in detail but what about the murder weapon, does the writer include information about that? That particular detail could be something that does matter to the storyline.

So how can you check whether pacing works in your manuscript?

Lukeman advises writers to read through the whole of their manuscript after they decide no other technical issues need correcting. Is it too slow, boring, and is it leading to the climax? Or does the action happen all at once and is everything over by the time you finish the first page?
Pacing is also a hard issue to address because it is subjective. Some people like a book that's a leisurely stroll while others like a book to be fast paced.

He also advises that the best way to see if there's any problems is to have a group of readers check over the storyline and note down what they say. If the pacing is too slow is the major consensus, here's four solutions to the problem.

1. You have a storyline which you find more fascinating than the reader does. Try reading the manuscript from the point of view of the reader.
2. There isn't enough tension. Why should the reader read on if everything is great and nothing needs solving?
3. Maybe you have a good starting and ending point but get lost in the middle. Read through the writing and cut out anything that doesn't need to be there.
4. You've described too much when you should have been focusing on the scenes.

If on the other hand your manuscript is too fast, ask yourself does your story contain too much dialogue? Dialogue is an element which can make your story run very fast. If dialogue is not the issue, have you told your story in too much of a rush? Do you have enough layers in the book to make it come alive?

Do you struggle with pacing? How do you go about solving the issues?