mental health -

19Aug 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

Self Confidence For Writers Part 5: Daily Exercises to Build Confidence

You probably know that increased confidence can improve every aspect of your life. It will help you smile in the face of rejection, get the promotion you want, sell your books. Most people will even tell you that confidence is one of the biggest factors that makes someone an attractive date. So how do you boost your confidence? For most people, it takes concentrated effort on a daily basis. It's about erasing negative thought patterns and learning to trust yourself. And no matter how hard you work, sooner or later something's going to deliver a blow to your confidence. How much of a blow--and how quickly you recover--depends on your discipline. Simple daily routines can help you build self confidence: 1. Stretch. A brisk walk or run might also be…

12Aug 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

Self Confidence For Writers Part 4: Coping with Criticism

Mental Health

I've talked before about the rules of critique courtesy, but there's a big difference between responding nicely to your critiquer and handling the critique well on an emotional level. There are also many different forms of criticism you're bound to face throughout your life. Everybody faces criticism, and we all know how much it can hurt. As such, our first instinct is often to ignore the criticism, let it go like water off our backs. Sometimes this is helpful--sooner or later you're bound to encounter unfair criticism or a critique that isn't useful in any way--but often it's actually counter productive. Even the harshest criticism often has a grain of truth, and if you ignore the criticism altogether, you don't learn how to make yourself a better person or how…

05Aug 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

Self Confidence For Writers Part 3: Nurturing Relationships

Mental Health, Self care for writers

The right community can provide a massive boost of self confidence to any writer. Writers have a tendency to be more introverted than extroverted, but in the end we all need people. More specifically, we need the right people in our lives. Nobody can go through life completely on their own. Everybody needs help sometimes. Once in a while we all need a shoulder to cry on, a few encouraging words, even somebody to just listen while we rant and rave about how some days we can't stand anyone. Our relationships with non-writers matter just as much as our relationships with writers. I've already talked at length about the benefits of joining a great writing community and if you follow any author blogs, sooner or later you see a great…

22Jul 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

Self Confidence For Writers Part 1

Mental Health, Self care for writers

Do you sometimes wonder if everything you're writing is complete garbage? Are you afraid to submit your work because you don't think it's good enough? Afraid that you'll never find an editor willing to give you a chance? Not confident you have the stamina for self publishing? Every writer struggles with these feelings, and there's a pretty good chance you struggle with self confidence in more than one area of your life. You might not believe you can ever get a promotion at your day job, or that you're not the kind of person who can attract a good romantic partner, or that you're not smart enough to understand physics or learn a new language. Discovering who you are and what you are capable of is part of the human…

23Jun 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

13 Ways to improve your day — and your life

Self care for writers

For many writers, life is a constant struggle. Those of us whose books remain unpublished after years of work doubt our ability to write and wonder why we started. Those who have found success fear with each book that their chain of success will be broken. Many of us also struggle with depression. Many writers don't make a living on their work and instead have jobs they hate--or at least jobs that don't fulfill them but are necessary to pay the bills. While I'm lucky enough to be working from home as a freelance writer, I've struggled with depression for years and I may not ever fully conquer it. But now I spend most of my time happy and enjoying life. You may need something more drastic than anything on…

14May 2012 by diannagunn

Caring For Your Mental Health

Mental Health, Writing

Not long after my dad died, my grandmother gave me a book called 'Soul Catcher'. A 'Soul Catcher' is like a dream catcher, but for the soul. It's a journal full of inspiring pictures and prompts designed to help you find yourself and escape depression. While I never really used the 'Soul Catcher' for its original purpose, I can't forget that book. What I can't forget about the book is the story of the woman who wrote it. She talks about how she reached her professional goals and wrote prolifically for the public on a number of subjects, but that her own writing, her journalling, grew more tortured even as she gained more success. She reached the darkest part of her depression one day when she uprooted herself, moved to…

09Jan 2012 by diannagunn

Dealing with Mental Burn Out

Inspirational, Writing

Between Nanowrimo, high school, and my internship with Musa publishing, I entered December of last year--it still feels weird saying that--exhausted and burnt. I managed to get sick twice in the first three weeks of December, and you might think it's bad luck, but I really believe that the physical sickness was caused by my mental exhaustion. It was my body's way of forcing me to take a break, since Christmas break didn't start for me until the 23rd this year. To be honest, I kind of expected to burn out after November. A lot of Nanoers do. However, I didn't expect it to be the brutal burn out it was. I found myself hating every minute spent travelling or at school, despite the fact that I really do love…