Lessening Writing Stress: Guest Post

Lessening Writing Stress- Welcome Author Laura Maciuika to the blog today. I think you will appreciate her wise words on the stress and calm of the writing life.

If you’re a writer, you’ve probably noticed the beautiful ironies that can crop up during the writing process. In completing my first book, Conscious Calm: Keys to Freedom from Stress and Worry, I had the challenge and ironic pleasure of walking my talk during the writing every step of the way.

It was hilarious at times. Having taken on the topic of lasting stress relief, I faced into writing after hours, before hours, and for hours at a stretch on weekends. Some of that time might have been dedicated to something more obviously resembling stress relief than sitting in front of a computer screen, hands at the ready on the keyboard. And yet I had decided to write this book; it was asking to be written.

It helps to feel that inner pull, the call to create. If you have a book inside of you and it is asking – or demanding – to be poured out onto pages to be seen and taken in by others, that drive can be one way to lessen the stress of writing. You’re just answering the call one more day. You’re just allowing what needs to be said or known, described or narrated, to find its way onto the pages and out into the world. You’re a willing scribe. For me, reminding myself of this and connecting with the inner call to create helped ease the writing stress.

It helped, too, that I knew this information was not available in this particular format, in my voice, in my way of describing it. Others had not put information together from eastern and western knowledge in this way, with the goal of making it more accessible without academese or convoluted theories seeping in to muddy the waters. Knowing I actually was writing in a way that could potentially touch and change lives helped. I could more easily take my own advice and stay in present time, just writing the next thing that needed writing that day, in that chapter. Or as Anne Lamott would have it, keep myself writing “Bird by Bird.” The end result would be bigger than me, as writing that goes out into the world always is.

If you’re writing, remember to connect with the inner call. What motivated you to begin? What characters, what information, is demanding to come forth and be known? Then jus t write the next thing that most needs to be said. Just the next step on the writing path. Your work will touch others in ways you may never know.  For today, just speak the next truth in your narrative; that will be more than enough.

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Dr. Laura Maciuika is a clinical psychologist, teacher, and transformation mentor. She specializes in supporting the transformation of old patterns and internal blocks into new-found inner freedom, joy, and success.  Laura is the author of Conscious Calm: Keys to Freedom from Stress and Worry. Follow Laura’s blog on stress and stress relief at http://consciouscalm.com/   Connect with Laura through Twitter @lauramaciuika http://twitter.com/#!/lauramaciuika and facebook.com/lauramaciuika, or at http://www.lauramaciuika.com/. Download a sample chapter and TOC of her book at facebook.com/consciouscalm.