Mailbag: How to Write Under Stressful Conditions

A few weeks ago I wrote a post that a lot of readers identified with. I was dealing with some stressful situations in my life, and I wrote about How to Write Under Stressful Conditions. In the post, I talk about keeping your creative life going even under the most trying circumstances. After all, your writing can be what makes you feel the most like you. Readers agreed and had a lot to say about the importance of getting back in the saddle. Margaret Fieland said:

I can really relate to this post — and you have some excellent ideas here. One thing that helps me in stressful times is just to journal about anything at all, even about how I’m having so much trouble writing, can’t think of anything to write about, feel guilty, etc. Just the mere act of picking up my pen and writing seems to help unstop the dam.

Thanks, Margaret. Absolutely, writing can serve as a great form of catharsis for our stress and negative emotion. It’s a way to get things out of our system, even if the writing that results isn’t the best. When you’re a writer, you feel calmer and braver and wiser just from the act of writing. I recommend Margaret’s exercise for others — during a stressful time in your life, make a daily writing goal in a journal, even if it’s only a few sentences a day. It’ll help keep you going.

Donita said:

What you said about not feeling guilty is vital. Guilt gums up your brain and raises your stress level. Guilt can create a solid block that’s hard to crash through. My own life is a series of crises, big and small. I’ve had to learn to write no matter how horrible things were. So, what I do is write every day, no matter what. I set a minimum of 300 words (not a lot)). It doesn’t have to be good; it can be drivel. It just has to be words, and it has to be in the project I’m working on. I can always delete it on another day. Today marks 400 days in a row of writing through crisis and calm. It works for me.

Thanks, Donita. That was another part of my post that I felt very strongly about — sometimes guilt stops us from writing because it is an activity for ourselves. If someone we love is suffering, writing can seem selfish. But it’s vital that you keep trying to write. Writing will get you in a more generous and clear-headed state, which will enable you to help your loved one more. Take care of yourself during a stressful period, and don’t let guilt get you down!

After the jump: more strategies for writing under stressful conditions.

JannyC said:

This just happened to me the other day. I was thinking to myself how am I going to write now? … I put on some music and that helped a bit as I also took a break and just wrote out what was swimming in my mind over what had happen to distraught me. I felt a lot better once I got all that out of my mind and I was able to get back to writing.

Thanks, JannyC. Here’s an example of how writing can get you back on track for your regular work or for your other writing projects. Stress can be like a kind of writer’s block. Your head is swimming with emotion and it feels impossible to think calmly about story ideas. So take the story ideas out of the equation. Get out a notebook or open a word file and just write about what’s going through your head. It’s a way to get you back on track, and eventually you’ll feel ready to tackle your regular writing again. When you’re a creative person, creative work can have a calming and healing effect.

Dorigen said:

I have just made one of the hardest decisions in my life – and one, which no doubt is familiar to many people on this site. I have given up the well-paid job I hate to see if I can make my living as a writer. As a self-inflicted, stress inducing strategy, I don’t think it gets much worse…The stress is only alleviated by writing itself, putting all my feelings down on paper and seeing where they take me. I even started to make a list of the practical things I should do and turned it into a poem…I know everyone is different, but for me at least, the most stressful times of my life have been the most creatively productive times. My only thought would be to take the stress with you and incorporate it into your writing, for jeopardy, tension, sadness and drama are all valuable elements in storytellling, and we all need to attune ourselves to them if we are to produce any writing that comes from the heart

Thanks, Dorigen. I encourage you to check out the full version of Dorigen’s comment here; there are a lot of useful thoughts about writing under stress. But Dorigen makes a great point about using the stress to your advantage. Some of us work better with stress. I know I write better when I have a deadline breathing down my neck. The tension and adrenaline that comes surging through you keeps ideas flowing through your head, if only you’ll set aside the time to satisfy them on the page. Use your energy when it comes to you, and take advantage of what times you can. Whether it’s waiting in a hospital waiting room or riding the train on the way to work, writers have made use of that time in the past, and you can too.

Finally, Summer said:

I also try to set a small goal like two pages a day, notes, quotes, anything. I even re-type material just to get my fingers and mind into the mode of writing. It gets to the point I feel guilty not doing it. But, hey, the world is not perfect.

Thanks for the concrete tip, Summer! I totally agree that assigning yourself concrete goals is a way to get back into the rhythm of writing. Make an iron-clad rule of writing something, anything, every day, and soon you’ll find the dance steps of the creative life once again.

Thanks, commenters! Next week, I’ll talk about How You’re Sitting On Your Best Material, and what readers had to say about it. Happy writing!