125: Taking the time to become a healthy writer.

Do you feel that life is difficult and you feel out of balance or out of touch with reality? The Writer’s life is hard, and if we get out of sync inside of our soul we don’t have the resources in our well to draw from.

In today’s episode, we’re talking about living a writer’s healthy balanced life, and what that looks like. The more balanced we are in life the more we can become effective communicators of the message that God has put in our hearts.

1. Remember to write daily.

It’s so easy for life to get in the way, but if writers stop writing, you can no longer call yourself a writer. Writers write that’s what we do. Your goal should be to write something every day.

I hardly know a writer who doesn’t deisre to perfect their craft. Sure, there are writers who tinker with their novels and will do so for years. I’m talking about writers who want and desire to perfect their craft. However, without practicing the art of writing daily, your craft will never grow. So, get out there and start writing.

2. Remember to edit your work.

It’s so easy to publish something in today’s world. Just open up Amazon Kindles Marketplace, you will find a plethora of books that have been published in the last month. The majority, have never been edited.

When you finish your manuscript, whether it’s a blog post, article, or a book, we have no excuse to not edit our work. The first thing I do after writing, I print out my manuscript in double-spaced format. This allows you the ability to read and make changes or notes before I begin rewriting.

After I’ve rewritten my work, I read the entire thing out loud. This allows me to find any mistakes and correct my work as I read. I also we will run my manuscript through my favorite online tool called Grammarly. If you want to be seen as a professional, at least proofread your work and correct any mistakes that you find.

3. Remember to start writing your next project while you’re editing your latest project.

Most writers don’t like the editing phase, they just want to keep writing. However, the opposite is also true, when we get into our editing phase we turn off our in a writer and we don’t keep moving forward.

I made the comment above that writers write. If we stop writing on a daily basis, even while we were editing, we’re not going to perfect our craft. Even when you’re editing your work, you should still be leaving room in your day to be working on your next book, blog post, or article. This is how people like James Patterson or Mark Dawson are able to release 6 to 12 books a year. If you do this one thing, I guarantee you will find yourself writing more than you ever have.

Bonus Point: remember to never neglect your family for your writing.

If you like me, it’s easy to get into tunnel vision and not spend time with the people that matter most. For me, the people that matter the most are my family. As a writer, I can use my strength and relationships to fuel my writing. But if I fuel my writing and neglect my family, my family will run out of gas and stop working.

When it’s time to write, write. When it’s time to spend it with your family, put your computer down and spend time with your family. And yes, there will be times when our families understand that we’re working, but those times should be few for the sake of the health of our family.

Remember, your family is your greatest strength and without their unwavering love, you would never become or be the writer that you are.

[reminder]When was the last time you wrote a project for completion. How’d you get the job done?[/reminder]