Post #18 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing and Healing – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Five more Surprising Tips on How to Be a Good Boss to Yourself: Memoir Writers and Journalers Take Notice
6. Call in sick
This is important to remember, especially in a post on writing and healing! We all have bad writing days when it seems that all we’ve accomplished is to haul a 300 pound verb from one end of a sentence to the other. If you’re having a day like this, get out, take a walk, change the scene. I tend to just keep hauling, but in hindsight, it’s counter-productive. If you don’t feel well or are having a really lousy writing day, walk away from the whole mess and come back later. Sometimes writing dilemmas solve themselves best when you and your boss are out of the office.
7. Remember
When you’re feeling sleepy, distracted, or discouraged, remember what drew you to writing in the first place. What were your hopes, your dreams? What did you love about writing? What was it you wanted to say that no one else in the world could write but you?
8. Allow the creative process to unfold in its own way
You may or may not like a tidy desk. But whatever your preference, allow your creative process to be untidy. Creativity isn’t neat and well-ordered; it evolves from chaos, crises, long fallow periods and sudden inspiration. Don’t stand over yourself and demand that the drawers of your mind be perfectly organized, and your creative process orderly and sequential. Practice tolerating confusion, doubt, and ambiguity. Your work will be enriched by it.
9. Reward yourself
Every employee appreciates a bonus. Reward yourself for work well done with whatever it is you most enjoy. A cappuccino? Lunch with a friend? A long walk in the country?
10. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt
Most important for writing and healing is to give yourself the benefit of the doubt. Your boss knows you want to do a good job, and that you’re serious about your work. So be kind to yourself and, as a little girl once wrote to me after an author visit to her school, “Don’t say ‘rong’ things to yourself.” You wouldn’t do that to your best friend, so don’t do it to your loyal, hard-working employee either. After all, you’re both on the same side!
Please leave us a comment and share your tips for being a good boss (nor not!) to yourself!
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If you like this post, you may also be interested in these posts by Pamela Jane Bell:
The First 5 Tips on How to Be a Good Boss to Yourself
11 Ways to Use Writing for Healing
memoir writing
writing tips
journaling
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writing and healing
