Writing Advice from a Chronically Ill Writer :) .

I don’t know about you but I have always struggled with keeping a habit of writing. When you look up advice for writing you will inevitably come across this piece of advice:

Write everyday without fail.

hahahahaha! Whew, *wipes away tears* . That’s funny. As a human being with chronic pain and a plethora of other issues, this piece of advice amongst others made me wilt.

And eventually it led me down a path of hating writing all together.

I didn’t realize how awful this advice could be even to writers who do not face chronic illness! Let’s just be real. There a lot of us who just simply cannot and will not write EVERY day. There are some who are of able body who just don’t have the time and energy to do it after work everyday. And I don’t think we should take quotes like these as a “this is the standard that all writers must have.”

This piece of advice is simply that. Advice. It’s whats helped other writers before but it’s also a piece of advice that others have discarded. Eating the watermelon and spitting out the seeds.

So with all this in mind, I would like to share some advice of mine that might aid you in your writing journey.
(Remember though: this is advice. Throw away what doesn’t work for you.)

• Keep a journal/notebook for every book/story idea! I use this for my big stories (stories I know will be longer than novella length.) and it helps organize my thoughts and keep my brain clearish.
• Keep a separate journal/notebook for jotting down EVERY idea you come to have. I have two of these, honestly. One for just story ideas that I might never use and another for bits of dialogue that don’t really belong to any of my current characters.
• Set deadlines for yourself. I’ve noticed that this tends to help me get writing done. I work really well with deadlines(that’s how my short stories for the Hope and Anything collections got written.) so I try to set attainable goals for the month with a deadline date. For February I wanted to write 6 chapters of Starry Subject and my deadline is the end of this week. 
• Give yourself some time every year to just follow the plot bunnies. I.E. I’m giving myself 2-3 months of the year to set aside my main WIPs(work in progresses)to work on whatever I want!! Fairytale retellings? Sure. Ghost barista detective? Why not? A talking mouse who falls in love with a painting? Weird but okay. Give yourself time to just let your creativity b r e a t h .
• Have a friend(s) to talk to about your writing. I tell my mom almost EVERYTHING about my books. Spoilers and all. It really helps to have that one person (or more) to help you brainstorm and keep you accountable. Because they will want to read your story one day!
• Try to find a writing group and connect with them. I highly recommend The Kings Daughter’s Writing Camp. They are a beautiful group of Christian ladies who for three months out of the year come together online to encourage each other and write together!
• Consume media. On days you can’t write—which for me are many— I implore you to consume all the books, games, movies, TV shows, anime, webtoons, manga, nature, etc. that you can. All of this will fuel your creative tank so that on days you can write, you have fuel to do so!
• Be kind to yourself. Let your body and mind rest when it needs to. Look at the rest times as part of your job. You are taking care of your body and nurturing it. That’s amazing!! You are alive and you will be able to create one day again. It just might not be today. And that’s okay.
• Finally: prayer. I find that days I remember to pray before I write that the words tend to flow easier. Because I’m leaning on His strength not mine.
  “God guide my thoughts as I write, guide my fingers as I type, let you flow through the page not me.”

Whew! *wipes sweat off forehead* well there we go! Some advice from this corner of the world. I hope you found some of it helpful and I hope that today is a good day for you and yours.

‘Till next we meet.
~Tiffany Michele.

Writing Advice from a Chronically Ill Writer .