Every writing journey has its bumps in the road. Sometimes those setbacks are of our own making, while other times they aren't our fault in the slightest.

Either way, there’s no doubt that setbacks can drain your mental and emotional energy.

Thankfully, there are steps that every writer can take to not only minimize the number of setbacks they experience but to weather creative turbulence with resilience and strength. What must you do to begin cultivating a little of this creative fortitude?

Creative comparison often gets a bad rap. Like self-doubt, comparison can be a lens through which writers can identify the strengths and weaknesses in their work, ultimately helping them improve the quality of their skills and stories with intention.

But without the right attitude in place, ego and insecurity can blind writers to the insights that comparison can provide, warping constructive comparison into a dangerously destructive act.

So, how can you overcome unhealthy creative comparison?

As writers, holding our work to high standards can help us craft sensational stories. But when those high standards aren’t accompanied by a healthy creative mindset, the seeds of perfectionism can take root. Why is this so dangerous?

All writers experience creative frustration from time to time. But what if you experience creative frustration most of the time?

Maybe you’ve yet to finish a first draft after years of writing, always lured by the siren song of a new story idea not long after beginning the last. Maybe you’ve developed an idea you love, but you’re afraid of failing to do the story justice. Maybe you’ve been struggling to find the time or motivation to sit down and write.

I’m often asked when I plan to publish my first novel, or how my work on that novel is coming along, and I’m incredibly grateful to know there are readers out there eagerly awaiting my fiction debut. If you’re one such reader, thank you! 

But on occasion, I’m asked a different question about my general lack of publishing experience: “What gives you the right to give writing advice when you aren’t even published? You’re not an author. Why should anyone trust you?”

This is by no means a common occurrence for me, but it does happen from time to time, usually once or twice a year. And every time I’m asked this question, I get to thinking about creative validation and what it really means to be a writer. 

When you decide to be an author, you will encounter strangers, people you consider friends, and even family who will — with the best intentions — gasp, “you should focus on your kids” or “that ship has sailed.” I’m here to tell you that ship, your ship, is docked in the harbor. It only needs three things to get you to the write destination: a captain, a fierce wind, and a push.

There are so many things in a writer’s life that can make finishing a novel difficult. For writers living with depression, this is especially true.

Depression can make your focus cloudy, make you feel apathetic toward things you care about, make it feel impossible to get out of bed, and altogether make your writing aspirations seem like pipe dreams. Even if writing is something you enjoy, depression can make it a miserable task, which can whittle away at your desire to do it at all. I should know. I’ve lived with depression since I was eight years old and was eventually diagnosed at fourteen.

You can only call yourself a writer if you actually write, right?

Often, we writers have the best intentions to make time for our practices, but those plans fall through. Day jobs, family, social lives, and making dinner have all been known to make us go from thinking “I’m going to write today!” to “Maybe tomorrow…”

So, how do you make sure you actually sit down to write instead of continually postponing it?

So, you’re fearful of putting your writing out there into the world…

Well, you’re not alone. Every writer experiences anxiety about letting other people read their work. Every writer fears rejection and criticism. Today, I’d like to help you overcome these fears by sharing insights gained from my own submission experience.

So there you sit. Again. Be it electronic or physical paper, the anxiety-inducing blank page stares back at you for the umpteenth time.

You’ve read plenty of articles explaining that most writers deal with this same situation all the time. All you need to do is push through the writer’s block, right? So you sit and sit and sit, waiting for inspiration to strike. Only it doesn’t. The longer you wait, the more frustrated you become. Finally you walk away, vowing to “try again tomorrow with a clear head.”

You’re excited about your novel idea. You want to write it, and you know you should be working on it, but life keeps getting in the way. When you do have time to write, you find yourself too physically and mentally exhausted. Burnt out to a crisp.

No matter where you are in life, you likely balance so many commitments that coming home to stare at a computer screen after a long day of school or work can seem like just another chore. Taking a break feels counterintuitive. Doesn’t that make the problem worse? How can taking a break from your passion prove refreshing?

As someone who blogs about writing fiction, I’m often asked about the fiction I write. How are your projects coming along? What kind of stories do you write? Are you published yet? Where can I find your books online? 

I’m always honored and encouraged when someone expresses interest in my work, but I’ll be honest: as a sort of public writing figure, I often feel a lot of pressure to excel in my personal storytelling, and that pressure can weigh heavy. When confronted with the fact that I haven’t yet published my work, that pressure compounds until I fear that I’m falling behind in my writing life.

This is a reality that I’ve dealt with for years, but now I’m gratified to realize that all the hard work I’ve put into owning my slow and steady approach to the craft has helped me build confidence in my creative journey. If, for any reason, you’ve also wondered whether you’re failing to live up to your creative potential, I’d like to share some of the hard truths I’ve learned with you today.