I’ve yet to meet any writers who didn’t talk about feeling overwhelmed and bogged down with too much writing that needed to be done. There’s hardly a morning I sit down at my computer, look at my writing to-do list and wonder, “How can I get all of this done?” So, when I saw Colleen M. Story was giving a talk at DFWCon this year about dealing with the stress of writing, I sat in.
First: Colleen, if you find this: Kudos for being so positive and encouraging to a group of writers in the last session of the last day of the conference. Most of us were wiped out, but your energy was contagious.
So, I bought her book Overwhelmed Writer Rescue. Her writing style, like her speaking style, is easy-going, friendly, and practical. The chapters are short and follow a logical pattern for those of us in need of support. I read a chapter every day, usually after some writing and before I stopped for my daily cardio exercise. This allowed for some moving meditation time to think about what she wrote. Now that the half-way point for CampNaNo is here, I realize how her book has helped me keep that word count growing. I have had no days where I said, “It’s just too much to do.”
If you’re in need of a little self-kick-in-the-pants to help you focus, give this book a try.