{"id":346,"date":"2021-04-24T19:05:37","date_gmt":"2021-04-24T19:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sarahgreenbooks.com\/?p=346"},"modified":"2021-04-24T19:48:58","modified_gmt":"2021-04-24T19:48:58","slug":"writing-with-chronic-illness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sarahgreenbooks.com\/?p=346","title":{"rendered":"Writing with Chronic Illness"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a wealth of information that focuses on writing. The craft, the discipline, the creativity. I devoured books like <\/span>On Writing<\/span><\/i> by Stephen King. I took classes and pushed to get into an MFA program. I jumped into them headfirst, eager to learn everything I could. They were full of inspiring words that <\/span>made<\/span><\/i> me want to be a better writer while offering some tips and tricks to meet my goals. But here\u2019s the thing, I always walked away from reading them feeling a little\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

dejected<\/h2>\n\n\n

And I don\u2019t mean in the \u201cAm I really a good writer? Will anyone ever publish my stuff?\u201d kind of way. I mean in a way that left a pit in my stomach. The feeling of how I could never measure up to these industry monoliths? <\/span>Because while I put my heart into every word, it often felt like I lacked the conviction they pushed for<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not because I didn\u2019t want it. Because believe me, this is the only thing I could ever see myself doing. But because there I often have limitations no one talks about in these books or writing classes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Limitations that come from being in chronic pain. I was diagnosed with chronic migraines years ago, meaning I typically have fifteen or more migraine days or more a month. If I\u2019m being completely honest, it\u2019s more like twenty-five. That\u2019s a lot of days to have light sensitivity or nausea or blinding pain in one or both of my eyes. But I won\u2019t go on about it. Much like when crafting a story, when a character is in pain, it\u2019s best to keep the description of it to a minimum. I only want you to know that it doesn\u2019t always feel like there\u2019s space for people like me when writing.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

I put my heart into every word…<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n

Here are the <\/span>three pieces of advice<\/span> that helped me the most:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • You know your body<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    You know what a bad day feels like. You know what a good day feels like. You know if the spots in your vision are the first signs of an incoming migraine that will probably knock you out for the next day. No one offering writing advice knows these things about you because <\/span>they\u2019re unique to you<\/b>. Maybe it\u2019s a day where you can push through. Maybe it\u2019s not. But you\u2019re the only one qualified to say whether you are. It\u2019s easy to fall into the expected standards for writers. You need to write every day. You need to spend hours researching the price of a can of tomato soup in 1946. If it\u2019s a bad day, those things can wait. But this leads me to my second point.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Be nice to yourself<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      So, you can\u2019t write today? You\u2019re too uncomfortable or too exhausted. It\u2019s tempting to berate yourself for not being dedicated or to feel guilty for not meeting a specific goal today. But just like my first point, you know your body. And if it\u2019s telling you to rest today, then you need to rest. There\u2019s no need for guilt. I\u2019ll fully admit I struggle with this a lot still. I\u2019m writing this to remind myself as much as I am for you. And this brings me to my final point.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      • Take it at your pace<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        <\/b>It was during a Third Place Books event that I heard a piece of advice that completely changed my thinking about writing. Leigh Bardugo said, \u201c<\/span>There\u2019s no timeline on your talent<\/b>\u201d. For so long, it felt like I was missing my opportunity. If I didn\u2019t write today, then I would fall one more step behind my peers. But with everything going on in your life, taking one day or week or month or however long you need to rest isn\u2019t going to suddenly diminish your talent. You need to work at your pace.<\/span><\/p>\n

        You\u2019re <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> falling behind.<\/span><\/p>\n

        You <\/span>are<\/span><\/i> a writer.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

        there’s no timeline on your talent<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n

        While there\u2019s a wealth of resources about being a better writer, you have to read them knowing they don\u2019t take into account your health conditions or the way you <\/span>must<\/span><\/i> live your life. But look at me when I tell you this, and I say this to myself too because there will be a day in the future when I doubt it all, you ARE a writer.<\/span><\/p>\n

        And I\u2019m so proud of you.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        There\u2019s a wealth of information that focuses on writing. The craft, the discipline, the creativity. I devoured books like On Writing by Stephen King. I took classes and pushed to get into an MFA program. I jumped into them headfirst, eager to learn everything I could. They were full of inspiring words that made me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":350,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[31,32,30],"class_list":["post-346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing","tag-chronic","tag-illness","tag-writing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sarahgreenbooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pexels-alex-green-5700142-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahgreenbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahgreenbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahgreenbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahgreenbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahgreenbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sarahgreenbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":347,"href":"https:\/\/sarahgreenbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions\/347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahgreenbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahgreenbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahgreenbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahgreenbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}