Making the Most of Staying at Home
/For many aspiring authors, life can often feel too busy to ever get started on the book we’ve always wanted to write. Many of us also have day jobs, kids, busy schedules, and other responsibilities that disallow us from sitting down and writing. However, now might be our chance!
With all of the scary and uncertain things that come along with this current global emergency, we are choosing to look for the positives wherever we can find them. One of those “positives” is that many of us finally have the time to sit down and work on our manuscripts!
While you stay at home and stay safe with your family and loved ones, here are our top tips for making it through this trial with a fresh outlook and hopefully, a fresh manuscript.
Writing is a way to ease your anxiety. Each time you’re tempted to read another news article or seemingly scary statistic, consider pulling out your manuscript, instead. It’s important to stay informed, but make sure you don’t allow worry to dominate your thoughts. Find a quiet place, play some instrumental music, and begin to write. Not only is this great for your project’s progress, but it will also help your mental health. Writing is a great way to escape the worries of the world and feeling accomplished can help you through this time of great uncertainty.
With a more open schedule, you can now work writing into your daily routine. Since many of us are working from home and no longer have a commute, and most businesses are closed (Friday happy hours are currently on pause!), our schedules are more open and allow for us to focus on the slower parts of life, including writing. Choose the same time and the same place every day. Eventually, this will signal to your brain that it’s time to “turn on” the writing, and your best work will begin to flow!
Look for inspiration in new places. Since most Americans (and others across the globe) have been ordered or encouraged to stay at home, our favorite, most-visited places may be out of the question at the moment. Now is the time to glean inspiration from your immediate surroundings and find inspiration in things you’ve never noticed before. Take a walk around your yard and pay close attention to details—moss growing in between bricks, a ladybug on a flower petal. Indoors, see the way the light illuminates certain parts of your home, or find prisms from the sun. You’ll be surprised at the seemingly mundane things that may make you feel inspired!
Consider keeping a daily journal throughout this ordeal. Write down how you are feeling each day. What are you worried about? What’s making you feel better? What are you grateful for? Not only will this journal be a memento of this tumultuous time in history, but journaling can be cathartic and help us work through tough emotions.
Our hope throughout all of this is that we come together as a collective society and do our part to slow the spread of this pandemic, keeping as many people as possible healthy. However, sometimes we are forced to make lemons out of lemonade and we are currently living through an unprecedented global crisis. We hope that during this time, you’re able to take a deep breath each day, focus on gratitude, and make progress on your writing project.
Additionally, all of us at Inspira want to say thank you to all of the essential workers on the frontlines—doctors, nurses, grocery store workers, delivery people, and more. We appreciate your contributions to our health and safety!
Be well. Keep writing.
The Inspira Team