Bethany Henry: Writing & Wellness

It’s too easy to be busy. We have meetings, commutes, chores, errands, classes, and bills to pay. We have families and coffee dates. And somewhere in there we should probably shower, eat, and sleep. Now these aren’t bad things. In fact, they’re important and good. (Please don’t give up showering! 😉 ) The problem is that sometimes we get caught up in our activities. We go go go until we forget what it’s like to slow down. Our lives are filled with busyness. Sometimes we forget that being busy is not the goal. Busyness is not inherently good. It does not make us more important. It doesn’t even always make us more productive. Being busy should not be our identity. Ever feel proud of being busy? Brag about how tired you are or how many meetings you have scheduled in one day? I’ve totally done that. There’s something in us that says we must be important if we’re busy. We must be getting things done and taking names. Out time must be in high demand. What happened to working smarter not hard...

Beta reading is the process of having other people look at our work and give critical feedback. I know, I know. I hate asking for help too. And who likes receiving criticism?  Unfortunately, the solitary writer who classily churns out novel after novel on their vintage typewriter completely on their own isn’t a practical model to live by. Getting support and feedback from others is necessary for our writing to reach its full potential. Today we’re looking at why beta reading is important and how to use it effectively. This post is Part 7 of the Steps to Success series designed to walk us through the process of writing a novel from beginning to end. As always, personal preferences and experiences differ. This guide is based in part on my own experiences as well as from authors I have worked with and/or learned from along the way. First of all, do we  really  need beta readers for our work? It can be scary to let other people look at our writing. (What if they laugh at...

There is a limited variety of mythical creatures in our stories these days. Ever find yourself reading fantasy stories about dragons and wonder what other fantastical beasts could be out there? Not that there’s anything wrong with dragons- there’s a reason they’ve become the poster child for fantasy creatures. They are fascinating, dangerous, and magical. But there’s a whole fantasy world out there filled with monsters and beasts and creepy crawlies! Dragons are just the tip of the mythical creature iceberg and we’re missing out if we don’t look further. Every culture throughout the world has their own stories, creatures, and magics. There are creatures that send nightmares, aggressive unicorns, mind reading monkeys, and magical umbrellas. (Really! Look it up 🙂 ) Today we’ll look at 7 lesser-known mythical creatures. These creatures are each interesting in their own right and can inspire our writing, whether we include them outright in our stories or not. Following each mythical creat...

As writers, we want to have writing habits that consistently produce results. We want all our days to be good days. (I mean, who wouldn’t??) However, life rarely is quite that orderly. Much like the changing weather here in New England, our lives are constantly changing. We have seasons  of our lives that are marked with different patterns, emotions, and rhythms. There are new jobs, small children, big moves, and/or classes and schooling. We have times of happiness and we have times of grief. Rest and then busyness. As  Heraclitus  is credited with saying, “The only thing constant is change.”  We can expect these changes to come.  Change in our lives doesn’t need to be scary nor does it need to derail our writing. Instead of being caught off guard, we can adapt our writing habits to the new rhythms in our lives. We can have grace for ourselves and for our writing in the midst of these changes.  This will help us find ways to write well and live well whereve...