Bethany Henry: Writing & Wellness

I am afraid. I am afraid my writing will fail. I am afraid people will judge my work and find me lacking. I am afraid I am not good enough. Fear is real. Do you have the same doubts? Do you wonder what you are doing calling yourself a writer? Are you afraid the words won’t come out right this time? Does fear keep your story from getting started, from getting finished, from getting shared? Here’s the truth, my friends:  You are not alone. And another truth:  Fear does not need to define us and it does not need to stop us. Fear is a normal. We fear fire, falling, and jumpy spiders for good reason. (Okay maybe spiders are a stretch, but still.) There is nothing wrong with fear itself. But when we let fear hold us back from doing good? That’s when we need to examine ourselves and see what we can do about it. So let’s take a closer look together at some of the fears common among writers. 1. We Fear We Aren’t Good Enough When can we say that we are writers? Do you ever feel you aren...

So you’ve d ecided to write a book  – good for you! Hopefully at this point you’ve brainstormed a little bit and have gathered together a rough idea of what you want to write about. Keep those ideas in mind because we’re going to dig a little deeper into them and transform them from vague concepts to solid content. The Setting Up For Success series is designed to walk us through the process of writing a book from start to finish. The idea behind this is that by breaking down the writing process into manageable pieces it is less overwhelming for us busy writers which helps us to work toward and achieve our  goals . This allows us to work on our writing instead of wasting energy and  time being confused or overwhelmed by the writing process.  Developing content for our books is all about asking questions about its story elements in order to create a solid foundation for our book to stand on.  There are no right or wrong ways to do this and everyone has a diff...

Hi, I’m Bethany. And I’m busy. (And tired. And probably hungry…) We live in the land of the chronically busy and always tired. If you always have plenty of time for writing and sleep and general life, kudos to you! (And tell me your secrets!!! Seriously, inquiring minds want to know.) For the rest of us mere mortals, well, I’ll make this short since we have a million things clamoring for our attention. Today I want to share with you a few things I’ve learned through trial and error over the years regarding being busy with life and also productive. I understand the struggles of finding time to be creative! So learn from my mistakes 😉 1. There Will Always Be More To Do. There will always be more things on our to do lists. If we’re “waiting until things slow down,” “I get a few moments to myself,” or “things are finished up at work,” well let me tell you a little truth: they won’t slow down. Most of us don’t have summer breaks (Hats off to all the teachers out there! You work hard for yo...

Ever try to take a break and had someone tell you, “If you don’t do it now, you never will?” (I have!) There is some truth to this statement: we’ve probably all put things off and then never gotten around to them. But the flip side is that sometimes we just need a break. For some reason or another we just can’t  do it now . Everyone operates a bit differently but I see two main reasons why we need to take breaks from our writing from time to time. One reason to take a break is because our project can demand it. Ever heard how we should take a step back and give our writing a rest after completing a rough draft? (Or any draft?) It’s an important aspect in gaining a bit of perspective and letting ourselves think of things in new ways. When we’re immersed in our own words it can be hard to see the novel in a way that allows us to do our best work. Taking a break is an important part of the creative process. It may be tempting to barrel on through and move that first draft fu...