mental health
My Snarky Take On Embracing The Birthday Blues
October 10th was my birthday, and I’ll admit that each year, I’ve experienced the birthday blues. Everyone thinks they want to stay young forever, and when you are a Gen Z fresh out of college, there is an invincibility factor that you go through. You know what I mean. We’ve all felt it at one point in our lives. When we’re at our peak youthful age, a power comes over us.
Writing Despite Setbacks: Redirecting Personal Challenges Into Our Stories
In an ideal world, only positive things happen to us. We have all the time to write and are in the best psychological mindset. We’re free of stress, always in a zen-like state, can jump into our WIP, and immediately get into a flow. We never let anything get us down, have never experienced writer’s block, and are always in a perpetually creative mood.
The truth is most of us have bad days. We have days where we don’t feel like writing. We have days where if writer’s block doesn’t impede our creative process, circumstances outside our control land on our front doorstep. Some weeks we might be on top of the world, and then all it takes is an unexpected traumatic event to tear it down. We saw the unexpected with the pandemic and how it changed the world. There is a whole list of stressors that experts rank as being the hardest to overcome. Some of us have dealt with illness, career change, moving, the untimely death of loved ones, and more. What they all have in common is that life goes on despite hardships. Relying on good times or our feelings is as reliable as driving a 1970s Ford Pinto. The gas tank could rupture during collisions, not only a scary thing but a potentially fatal one.
Read the rest of this entry »Overcoming The Shortage of Hope Through Growth & Change
Change has been on the horizon for many of us, whether we like it or not. If you’re one who resists change and has difficulty adjusting when your routine goes sideways, then you might find yourself struggling with the new norm.
The pandemic has forced us to get used to our living arrangements because, let’s face it, many of us have now work from home. That’s become the biggest change is the new hybrid and fully remote work models. Not only that, there now seems to be a shortage of just about everything. One of my ultimate loves is Diet Coke. After I had my son, I couldn’t find caffeine-free Diet Coke anywhere. Why? There’s a nationwide aluminum shortage, otherwise known as the “candemic,” resulting from more breweries choosing cans over glass. The aluminum shortage is also partly due to China’s crackdown on energy usage to meet its carbon-emission goals. Auto industry experts are now warning of a magnesium shortage because the chemical element is a key ingredient in making aluminum!
Read the rest of this entry »#MentalHealthAwarenessMonth: Depression In Writers & Why It Sucks
October is Mental Health Awareness Month, and it’s a subject that is deeply personal to me.
I wish I could say that I wake up every morning smiling from ear to ear. I wish I could say that I have an infectious laugh, a bubbly personality, and skip everywhere I go.
I wish I could say that winter weather doesn’t affect me and that COVID didn’t affect my mental health. I wish I could say that I don’t mind isolation, that I can celebrate everyone else’s success with a huge fucking grin on my face, even though all the while I’m feeling like a big fat failure.
Read the rest of this entry »Don’t Let Perfectionism Sabotage Your #WIP
The hardest part of writing a novel isn’t starting but knowing when to stop without perfectionism stalling progress. It’s easy for people to start something and fiddle around with it for years. I’ve spoken to writers who have taken 10-15 years and are still tweaking the same novel. Meanwhile, I’ve read drafts where I can tell the writer rushed through the process, and the manuscript requires many more revisions.
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Writing With Hope 