Featured Writer on Wellness: Anne Valente

One of the biggest physical challenges for me is the amount of
sedentary time that writing requires.

Outside of writing I’m a fairly active person, so it often makes me feel restless to sit in a chair for hours on end.

I tend to balance this out with some form of physical activity each day, usually running and sometimes cycling. I definitely value the quiet time of being able to sit in front of the computer for several hours, but I find that I draw my inspiration from being active and outdoors.

Lots of Writing = Dry Eyes

My routine usually involves writing for several hours early in the morning, then running or exercising directly afterward so that I know some form of activity is on the horizon. This also gives me a set number of hours—a daily deadline, in some ways—to get my writing done and organize my time.

I’ve also recently experienced dry eyes for the first time, after working intensively on a novel for a year. For this reason, I rarely write with my contacts in and have learned to be vigilant with eye drops.

Dealing with Rejection as Part of the Writing Life

Rejection used to bother me much more than it does now, something that I’ve grown accustomed to as part of the process of writing. But I’m not impervious to the ups and downs of writing, the cycles of acceptances followed by months of rejection, and this can grow a little draining as a preoccupation away from the day-to-day work of getting writing done.

I’ve tried to do my best to block out the noise, so to speak, as best as I can—to view acceptance and rejection as a part of the writing life, but not necessarily a part of the reason why I chose to write in the first place. I try to stay focused on that internal hum of curiosity, and of learning more about the world through the written word.

I tend to center myself with green tea, with reading—how other writers focus in on their own sense of the written word and their place in the world—and with exercise. I also find that getting lost in something larger than myself always reminds me of the reasons why I write, and sparks my sense of curiosity and my imagination.

I’m taking astronomy classes this month, thanks to an excellent gift from my sister, which is a perfect way of seeing beyond myself. I also find that hiking and getting out in nature create space for feeling centered.

When I Considered Giving Up on Writing

Right before my first collection of short stories was accepted for publication, I’d honestly considered giving up on writing—or at least on making writing a primary career choice. I’d gone through two fairly intense years of rejection, in terms of sending out the collection and other stories, and in terms of applying for graduate programs in creative writing.

By May of the following, third year, I was contemplating what else I could do with my life when I received the phone call about the publication of the collection. I don’t know what other choice I might have made, or where my writing would have gone from there, though I like to think I still wouldn’t have given up.

The One Thing That Has Kept You On Your Path

Despite coming so close to giving up at one point, I can’t imagine any other path for me. I love writing and what it means for my own sense of curiosity, and how it allows me to access the world.

I’ve also been extremely fortunate to have an incredible support system around me—my family, my partner and my friends have all been amazing champions for me along my path.

Advice for a Young Writer: The Hardest Part is Self-Motivation

I think rejection is hard, most certainly, but I honestly think the hardest part of writing is self-motivation. You can deal with the former if you have the latter.

When I first began writing, I don’t think I could have anticipated just how difficult it would be to learn how to push myself, to set my writing habits, to organize my time and make sure that the writing gets done. It’s easy to place it at the bottom of a to-do list, after jobs and chores and caring for others and anything else that requires tangible outcomes.

Writing is so intangible, and so lacking in immediate results—for a writer or anyone in a writer’s life. But I think recognizing its importance is tremendously empowering, and can serve as a mainstay against the ups and downs of rejection.

I think the hardest part of writing for me was to admit to myself how important it was to me, and to honor it by motivating myself to make time for it every day.

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Anne Valente is the author of the short story collection, By Light We Knew Our Names, and the fiction chapbook, An Elegy for Mathematics. Her fiction appears or is forthcoming in One Story, Ninth Letter, Hayden’s Ferry Review and The Normal School, among others, and her essays appear in The Believer and The Washington Post.

For more information about Anne and her writings, please see her website, or follow her on Twitter or Goodreads.

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By Light We Knew Our Names: From ghosts to pink dolphins to a fight club of young women who practice beneath the Alaskan aurora borealis, By Light We Knew Our Names examines the beauty and heartbreak of the world we live in.

Across thirteen stories, this collection explores the thin border between magic and grief.

Available at Amazon, Dzanc Books, and IndieBound.