Bethany Henry: Writing & Wellness

Often I feel like I have too many writing projects and too little time! I have all sorts of stories I want to be working on and it can be hard to sort out how that works alongside the rest of life. (Anyone else??) Lately a lot of my writing times are only 5-15 minutes long: this is because of time constraints as well as just having limited mental-energy. But writing even for just give minutes is totally worth it! Even though it’s only a few minutes, the time and work definitely adds up. I make lots of lists so I can keep myself (somewhat) focused and moving forward. I’ve been really trying to be gracious towards myself with however much or little progress I’m making, and I’m trying to recognize and celebrate every success no matter how small. And personally, I feel so much better with even just a few minutes of writing in my days! It’s good for the soul. What does your life and your writing look like these days? What is going well and what would you like to improve on? And remember: Wh...

I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I’m writing I get all caught up in plot points and “things to do” that I forget to… well… have  fun. Don’t get me wrong, I still think plot points are important. I’ve talked about story structure before and how its framework can actually give us  more  freedom to have do cool things with our stories. And knowing what elements to include in a strong story is good to follow through on. But also… fun is important. “Shinies” means fun. It’s the story pieces that make you smile when you see them. They’re the nuggets of a book that you just can’t help but love. The shiny bits may mean any number of things for different people: awesome costumes, zippy one-liners, fire-breathing dragons, explosions, breathtaking worldbuilding, that double-cross twist no one saw coming. But whatever they are- let’s not forget to put them in our stories! Filling Our Stories With Shinies It’s worth taking a few minutes to identify what “shinies” m...

I’ve been reading more classics lately and just finished Walden by Henry Thoreau. Have you read that one? Maybe years and years ago? Here are some of my thoughts and favorite quotes for you to enjoy 🙂 Reading Walden Reading Walden was slow going- I started it in 2020 and would often only read a page or two a day, which is much slower than my usual reading pace. But that wasn’t a bad thing in the end because so much of the book seemed to just get better as it was savored and thought through! Considered by many to be Thoreau’s masterwork, Walden encourages the reader to “live deliberately,” to pursue freedom, and to question conformity. It is a mix of poetic descriptions of nature interspersed with thoughts on ethics, philosophy, and observations on human nature. Your mileage may vary of course (there were a few comments here and there that rubbed me the wrong way) but overall I found Walden to be a thought provoking and worthwhile read. Quotes from Walden Note: These may not be the mos...

This past February I took part of  FAWM , which stands for February Album Writing Month. The goal of FAWM is to write and record 14 songs in 28 days and there is this great community of people all making music and encouraging each other along the way. (Really,  as I’ve said before , it’s a lot like Nanowrimo!) So before I return to my novel writing I thought I’d share my songwriting journey with you all 🙂 A Month of Songwriting In Review As I write this, February Album Writing Month is over. No more songs are being uploaded to the FAWM site- though there is still plenty of chatting and revising going on. During FAWM 2021, over 13 THOUSAND (!!) songs were written and uploaded to the FAWM site written by over 2,000 FAWMers. Isn’t that amazing?! For my own stats, I wrote 16 songs this year- some better than others 😉 I recruited 3 of my family members to join me in my musical adventures, which was a fun way for us to connect from a distance. And I recorded my first ever collabor...

In our stories, our characters can’t always get along. Even friends can’t always agree. Why? Well let me ask you this- do you always get along with everyone? Really?  Really ? Not only do we all have bad days, moments of stress, and grumpy mornings- we’re also all human. We have different ideas, worldviews, plans, and goals. Which means we’re going to disagree. Not only do we disagree, but sometimes we actually disagree and fight with our friends  more  than with other people. This is because we often view close family and friends as “ safe targets :” our security in our relationship means we are more real and more confrontational than we would be otherwise. We aren’t putting up a front or playing nice, which leads to different dynamics in the relationship. So that does that mean for our stories? The relationships in our stories should mimic real life, which means they should include conflict. Showing this conflict in our stories can have a variety of benefits. 5 Reasons ...

These are some of my favorite comics about writing and creating! As well as a few bonus comics just for fun 😉 Your own mileage may vary but I hope they make you smile! These artists all have fantastic work posted online and sold in stores- I’ve linked to their sites below so definitely check them out. A Few Favorite Comics Sarah’s Scribbles By Sarah Anderson of Sarah’s Scribbles By Sarah Anderson of Sarah’s Scribbles By Sarah Anderson of Sarah’s Scribbles Incidental Comics By Grant Snider of Incidental Comics By Grand Snider of Incidental Comics By Grant Snider of Incidental Comics XKCD By Randall Monroe of XKCD By Randall Monroe of XKCD Strange Planet By Nathan Pyle of Strange Planet By Nathan Pyle of Strange Planet For more smiles, check out  these random and funny things that have caught my eye on pinterest!  🙂 Originally published February 19, 2021 on Bethany-Henry. com.