8 Stress Management Tips for Writers

These stress management tips for writers are key for writing success, since stress can  impede creativity and trigger writer’s block! To stay focused and creative, check out these tips for reducing writing stress. 

Before the tips, a quip: 

“There is no rule on how to write,” says Ernest Hemingway. “Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly: sometimes it’s like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.”

These stress management tips for writers are for when you feeling like you’ve been drilling rock – and you have a headache to match. To avoid burnout and writer’s block, you need to relax and let the words and ideas flow. To learn more about how writers deal with work and life, click on The Writing Life: Writers on How They Think and Work by Marie Arana. And, read on for tips for stressed-out writers…

8 Stress Management Tips for Writers 

1. Set realistic expectations. To stress less as a freelance writer, throw out your unrealistic expectations (eg, writing 7,000 words a day, writing a bestselling novel, sending 25 well-written, well-researched pitches to magazine editors today). Stress less by setting writing goals that are lofty but attainable. 

2. Eat nutrients that increase energy. Stay away from those diet colas, iced Americanos, and chocolate coffee beans (quick highs, but you’ll crash soon). A healthier way to reduce stress is to eat foods that increase energy production, which will help your body to cope with the deadlines and lofty goals. Focusing on B Vitamins, magnesium and ribose (ribose is the key building block for energy) is an important part of stress management for writers. For more info, read 10 Tips for Eating Healthy While Working From Home.

3. Move your body. To reduce stress as a writer, get oxygen bubbling through your veins and to your brain. Run, cycle, spin, belly dance, box – who is the famous writer who swears by walking? Julia Cameron, perhaps? The more you exercise, the more freely ideas and words will flow.

4. Write in a different genre. I just wrote an essay called “But Honey, All Real Writers Do It” for the writing contest attached to the Surrey International Writers Conference. It’s a fun, quirky creative piece – and it was totally de-stressing to write it! An effective stress management tip for writers is to try writing poetry if you normally write textbooks or penning your memoirs if you normally write technical manuals. 

5. Visualize the finished manuscript, article, or book proposal. Put The Secret or the Law of Attraction to work for you, and imagine your accomplished goals. Picture how you’d promote your novel or show your family the magazine with your feature article on the front cover. To reduce stress and stop the writer’s block that often comes with stress, sit back and visualize yourself as a successful writer. 

6. Free your mind. An effective stress management tip for writers is unclutter your head and heart. If you’re harboring anger, resentment, or bitterness, apologize if you need to and forgive those around you. To get rid of writer’s block and create peace in your life, seek harmony.  To succeed as a writer, focus on health and wellness in all aspects of your life. 

7. Organize your desk, computer files, and house. To reduce stress, respect the relationship between your emotional state and your physical environment. Cleaning and organizing your environment can help foster feelings of control and efficiency – which can help you feel less stressed while you’re writing. As long as you don’t use cleaning as a procrastination tactic, it can also bolster your sense of focus and ability to get things done. If you tend to procrastinate, read 5 Tips for Ending Your Writing Procrastination.

8. Write for someone who loves you dearly. Stress management for writers involves writing for loving, kind, and compassionate readers. Maybe you can picture an audience like this all the time, or maybe it’s a special treat to write for someone who views you with love. To reduce stress, write for people who think nothing but the best of you.

What have I missed? If you have anything to add to these stress management tips for writers, please comment below…

Category: Books, Freelance Writing, Magazine Articles & Query Letters, Magazine Writing Tips, Non-Fiction Writing, The Writer's Life