Through conversations with other writers over the years, it’s become clear that issues including fear of rejection, occasional self-doubt and writer’s block simply come with the territory for novelists. I’ve experienced all of that, but for me, the biggest emotional challenge to writing on a regular basis is struggling toContinue Reading
by Katie Clark After a three-year slide into brain fog and loss of focus, the inability to function in my daily life, ever-increasing areas of pain for no apparent reason, a fatigue so deep that it felt like all the iron had been taken out of my blood, and aContinue Reading
My first sweet romance was self-published in March 2019. It’s exciting to have two books self-published already this year, but even though the books are doing well, I still struggle with self-doubt. I dabbled with writing in the past few years, but this year decided it was time to takeContinue Reading
I would say my biggest challenge is being low income, as a result of writing even though my novels don’t generate enough income to justify the time/energy investment. Self-promotion is also a big emotional challenge. My low income status (very small social security check) is a threat to my abilityContinue Reading
The two greatest challenges for me are self-doubt and finding the mental energy to write after being tapped out from a day’s work. I put in 10-12 hour days at a physical and emotionally challenging job, and some days I can’t even decide what to have for dinner when IContinue Reading
My biggest challenge? TIME! I’m married to a world traveler and it’s difficult for me to carve out blocks of time to write, edit for friends, and read. Although, I do take books with me on all of my trips and voyages. I’m not a Kindle user—I’m an old dinosaur,Continue Reading
I’m not sure if perfectionism is the biggest emotional challenge to being a writer, but it ranks in the top ten. Perfectionism and its evil step-sisters—judgment, comparison, envy, and self-doub—all have the power to do me in if I let them. Based on my unrealistic perfectionist writer ideals, I sufferContinue Reading
My biggest emotional challenge as a writer occurred well into my novel-writing career. Writing has always been therapeutic for me, but one very dark novel took me by surprise. My tenth published book did not come easy. I was going through a tough time in my marriage and dealing withContinue Reading
I’m not really the type to get super-emotional about things. I will say that the year and a half we were fostering our 2 1/2 year old (now our adopted daughter 🙂 ) was an extremely difficult time to balance writing and family issues. I’d also say there’s a levelContinue Reading
I don’t think there’s been a day where I haven’t felt overwhelmed since I started writing. I think this is largely because I struggle with a number of emotional challenges that all pile on top of each other. There’s the self-doubt that what I’m writing is any good. Flagging motivationContinue Reading
My first book was published almost five years ago, and my biggest emotional challenge is the same today as it was when I started writing seriously: the nagging feeling that I’m not working hard enough. That I’m not working as hard as other authors. I’m not sure that the feelingContinue Reading
I think I was born with the creative bug. As a child I was always making something—paintings, crafts, songs, stories—and I get grouchy when creativity isn’t happening in my life. Two ingredients are really important for creativity to flourish, and they’re pretty difficult to find: time and headspace. I’m luckyContinue Reading