New Book Explores Just How Healthy a Writing Habit Can Be

 

In the year 2020, sometime after the pandemic hit, I was at the end of my rope. In addition to coping with so many people I knew and loved either getting COVID-19 or passing away from it, I lost my job and things seemed to only get worse as the months went by. I started to lose hope. I dreaded waking up the next day to learn about what new disaster had struck. I was and still am a recovering alcoholic, but I was tempted to start drinking again. (Thankfully, I resisted!) I felt useless, powerless and helpless. The future began to look very bleak – if there was going to be a future at all.

 

Then something wonderful happened.

 

After over two years of being unable to write, the day came when I picked up a pen, grabbed a notebook, and started writing again. Writing was the one thing I knew I could rely on, and it ended up being the only thing which, at that time, brought joy into my life again.

 

Writing made me happy. As page after page of that notebook started to fill up with words, I started to feel better about myself – and the possibility of an actual future. While the world was ending, I tried to keep it all going for just one more day by writing.

 

Not only did writing allow me to pick myself up off the floor, but, later on in life, it also helped me come to terms with certain traumas from my past. I was reading a book which shared information about keeping a “trauma journal.” Apparently, this kind of journal helped A LOT of people who survived trauma, just from writing all about it. I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about just how writing could provide other kind of health and emotional benefits to people.

 

I threw myself into researching this topic. The result was my new ebook, Write for Your Life! The Health Benefits of Writing.

 

In my research, I discovered the psychological, emotional and spiritual benefits many people have reaped from writing, either by using guided writing in therapy, random writing sessions with freewriting, timed writing sessions or normal writing activities. Not only this, but writing itself allowed many people facing disease and illness eventually regain their health and improve their sense of wellness. Their blood pressure went down, cholesterol levels dropped and cognitive skills improved. Writing soon became a passion for these individuals, and the more they wrote, the better they felt and the better their health improved.

 

Writing that book was definitely an eye-opener. I never knew the health benefits of writing! However, as someone who was able to write again only when my world seemed to be falling apart, and being better off for it, I can see and understand how writing can have a positive impact on someone’s life. I am so glad I followed my curiosity and researched this topic. I am also glad I was able to write a short book about it! This book may not be an exhaustive discussion on the health benefits of writing, but I hope it will serve as a good introduction to people who are interested in how they can improve their health.

 

The best part? Writing is FREE.

 

Here is the book’s blurb:

 

Have you ever felt better after writing down all of those feelings you kept bottled up? Is your journal your go-to every time life gets a little too stressful? Does writing fiction allow you the opportunity to escape from the harsh realities of life?

 

There's a very good reason why you turn to these methods of writing when you have nothing else to use and no one to go to for relief: Writing can help improve your health. Studies have found that the act of writing has helped people improve their mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health. Not only this, but the habit of writing has helped improve cognitive skills and otherwise increased a person's overall intellectual health.

 

If you're looking for a low-cost method to help you cope with stress, anxiety and fear, why not turn to something that is available to you 24/7/365? Writing can help improve your overall health and it provides you with a way to boost your creativity. Write for Your Life! shares just what kind of health benefits await you just from adding the writing habit to your life.

 

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Do We Really Need to Be a Part of Something in Order to Gain Respect as a Freelance Writer?

“She is an editor for….”

 

“He is a teacher for….”

 

“She is a member of….”

 

“They are a part of….”

 

These are credits I have seen among many writers published in various forms of media: Online, in newspapers, magazines, E-zines, E-newsletters, etc. After seeing these in a writer’s bio so often (and, yes, I DO read the bios!), I can’t help but wonder if being a part of a team or part of SOMETHING gives a writer more respect among the publishing community.

 

As for me, the only thing I am a “part” of is the team of book reviewers at Reader Views. That’s it!

 

Everything else I do is solo.

 

I USED to be a part of things.

 

I was once a book editor for an independent publishing company.

 

I was once part of the production team for my college newspaper – and, yes, I occasionally wrote articles for them.

 

I was once a contributing writer to the local newspaper in Palm Springs, California (The Desert Sun).

 

I was once a staff writer for the national newspaper, SIGNews.

 

I was once a member of the editorial advisory board for the DPPi, a magazine published for disabled parents.

 

I was once a poetry editor for a literary magazine.

 

And I was once one of the panel of judges for a short story contest.

 

So, yes, I USED to be a part of things. I used to belong to something.

 

But not anymore.

 

These days, I put the “free” in “freelance.” As in, while I review books for Reader Views, I’m basically not much a part of anywhere else. I am a free agent. I am an INDEPENDENT contractor.

 

I am a freelance writer.

 

I am a freelance editor.

 

I am a freelance ghostwriter.

 

I have no employer except myself. I have no one to answer to except myself. And I don’t have to worry about someone deciding whether or not I am “good enough” to be a part of their team – because I am on my own team. And I am the only one I have to answer to, at the end of the day.

 

And yesterday, I decided that I am going to keep it that way. No more gigs and no more trying to be a part of a team.

 

Yes, I am still trying to get an agent for my novels – and, in fact, I currently have an agent interested in one novel in particular. But he knows that I like to have the freedom to do what I please with the OTHER books. The poetry books. Nonfiction.

 

My freedom is important to me. I have been fiercely independent ever since I moved out of my parents’ house at 19. My husband knows that my independence is important to me and he does not try to control where I go or who I’m with. (We do keep tabs on where we are or where we’re going with each other for safety reasons.) This freedom is likewise important to me in the work that I do.

 

I don’t like people breathing down my neck, controlling what kind of writing I will do. I don’t like having to rush anything for a client. And I don’t like being chained to the computer or phone for anyone I work with.

 

If I agree to turn something in by a deadline, then I will work on meeting that deadline.

 

But for everything else, I don’t like someone rushing me to complete a project and I will not work with such a person.

 

I have no one demanding I drop what I’m doing to give her my complete attention for something else (I don’t function that way).

 

I have no one deciding I am “too slow” and using it as a reason to cut me loose.

 

I have no one trying to interrupt my routines to add something new, thereby causing me to suddenly forget everything else and messing up a whole system I created in order to meet expectations.

 

I am on my own. I’m a lone wolf. As far as being a writer, editor and ghostwriter is concerned, I work alone. I send work out to different markets, and it’s all based on my own efforts. I find these markets myself. I write the queries and cover letters myself. I write ALL of the material I submit myself.

 

There is no magic system giving me passage to getting published. I work on creating my own opportunities for getting published.

 

The idea of belonging to something and being a part of a team used to appeal to me. I thought it was an important distinction to have, because it seems like EVERYONE EVERYWHERE must have this in order to gain respect among their peers in the publishing industry. But I no longer feel it is important to have. Yes, I’m currently a part of the Reader Views team, but that’s it! I’m not a team member for anything else.

 

The reality is, I don’t belong anywhere.I may be everywhere, but I don't belong anywhere.

 

As far as being a writer is concerned, I am on my own.

 

As far as being an editor is concerned, I am on my own.

 

As far as being a ghostwriter is concerned, I am on my own.

 

I don’t have any employer. I don’t have a “boss.”

 

I am my own boss, and I plan to keep it this way.

 

And if this conflicts with my ability to get published somewhere, so be it. If a publication only wants writers with the privilege of being a part of something, then so be it. I will pass on them, just as they will pass on me. 

 

I know there are other markets out there who accept writers even though they are not bestselling authors, contest winners, part of a residency or a member of some team or organization, etc. Those markets are out there. So I guess it is not really necessary to be a part of some THING in order to get published, and it’s better to just stay away from the markets that make this a requirement.