Ten ways to deal with writing stress

Writing and stress don’t mix very well. Not for me, anyway.

Sure, small amounts of stress (like having to meet a deadline or get a higher grade) can motivate you to produce—but if my stress gets out of control (which it tends to do more often than I’d like) then it can be one of the most destructive things to my creative process.

It infests my mind, entrenching itself in the background of everything I do, potentially corrupting every word I write. It prevents me from organizing my thoughts, releasing chemicals that amp up anxiety, and in my case, causing severe and extremely distracting headaches—making writing even more difficult than usual.

That’s why it’s so important to keep control of your stress: letting it control you will kill your drive to write even quicker than having no direction.

Luckily though there are ways to fight back against stress and relax.

Discovery writing shouldn’t happen by accident—here, take these three ways to do it on purpose

As writers and storytellers, we’re always searching for… something.

We’re always trying to figure out new techniques to use in our writing and make it better. Or we’re looking for new and exciting ideas to use in our stories. Or we’re hunting for inspiration. Or trying to find beauty to put in a poem.

Or, simply, waiting for a peaceful moment to sit, and think, and dream, and discover something new…

The anticipation of discovering something amazing about a new story was about as addicting to me as the feeling you get in your stomach when you’re riding a roller coaster—that sort of nervous excitement that stews inside of you just before the first drop.

Sure, I loved it. Writing would be a lot less fun for me without that feeling. Yet, despite that, I couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong with the whole situation…

It came down to this: was I really okay with the best parts of my stories coming about completely by accident?

No. No I was not.

Unlimited story ideas! Three ways to make the muse work for you.

How cool would it be if, for one month, you sat down and wrote a completely original short story every single morning?

Can you imagine all of that material? That’s enough stories for you to publish your own short story collection!

It’s a nice dream isn’t it? But that’s probably all it will ever be: just a dream. And, as far as dreams go, this one seems pretty far fetched. The amount of new and creative ideas that you would have to come up with would be a bit overwhelming.

I have enough trouble coming up with ideas to write about on this blog, how could I ever come up with a completely original story every morning?

Well, do you want to know a secret? I can, and I do. Coming up with great story ideas is pretty simple, because I know how to make the muse work for me—not the other way around.