Janiera's Word Corner: How to Keep Writing When Life gets you Down

Welcome to the first blog post of Janiera's Word Corner,  a new blog meme where i'll discuss my thoughts pertaining to both the writing and the reading world! Feel free to join in on the weekly discussion. This meme is meant to bring about FRIENDLY weekly chats!

As most of you know I suffer from Fibrmyalgia syndrome. The syndrome is brought about by nerves firing in the brain too  fast and that can cause a lot of problems. I'm active in a few Fibromyalgia Facebook groups and I don't try to hide my syndrome as it is completely a part of me and my writing life. That being said, I receive the same question a number of times throughout the week asking: How do you manage to write when you suffer with something like Fibromyalgia, depression ( which Fibro often brings about) or are trying to get through a life crises?

In no way am I complaining about receiving this question, as it has ultimately helped me find the answer I was also searching for. I can't tell you how many days I've sat down to write with so much pain shooting through me and depression clogging my creativity. I've stared at a blank writing page for an hour thinking: I don't have any inspiration to write! There was no drive, no feeling or desire to write anything creative.

So, over the next few days I read a lot, watched some movies and tried to sleep past the pain. However, every time I sat down to write, the words would never make it from my thoughts to the dang screen! It was terrible. One morning after looking at some dismal sales reports, I decided it was never to late to research and brush up on my marketing skills. When you have a chronic illness or syndrome the pain can last weeks so, it was important for me to do something with the extensive time I spent in complete pain.

During the next two weeks I read great books, built marketing plans and thought of new ways to connect with fans.

So my answer to the question " How do you manage to write when you suffer with something like Fibromyalgia, depression ( which Fibro often brings about) or are trying to get through a life crises?" is:

Focus the pain into something productive that will help your writing in the long run!

I don't believe in writing when you don't feel inspiration. I've read so many books where I could tell right away there was no true creativity in the authors heart when they wrote their story. Writing everyday doesn't make you a good writer, giving it your all every time you sit down to create a story, does.  At some point you will have to push past the mental and/or physical pain to get back to your writing flow and only you know when that can truly happen. 

Until your creativity returns, take the the pain and use it to further your writing goals through interacting with fans or doing something that might give your mind a bit of a rest. If you can't do that either grab a book and soak it up, tomorrow is a new day filled with new opportunities!

What are some ways you've remained a  productive writer during trying times?

Join me next week where we'll talk about:  Should you judge a book based on the author's previous work?