Writing Through the Storm: Strategies for an Unpredictable World

I had just pretzeled myself under a desk at work to wait out an earthquake drill when the fire alarm started blaring. Seriously? Someone was taking this preparedness exercise a little too far. But fire beats earthquake in the disaster hierarchy, so I crawled out from my safe space and exited the building with the flood of other workers.

While standing around under threatening rain clouds, it occurred to me that writers could probably benefit from some disaster planning too. Anything from writer’s block to the (cough, cough) political environment can affect your writing—and your general well-being, so it’s worth taking a few minutes to think about how you’d handle a variety of potential disruptions.

I’m not trying to be a downer. Just the opposite. I recently had to run through this exercise for myself because my husband and I both work in what recently became a precarious industry. (My deepest sympathies to all those who’ve been laid off or might be impacted.) After a few days of worrying about it, we decided to take action by creating a “We Lost Our Jobs” scenario budget that stripped out every nonessential. Then we calculated how long we could last without new jobs before we’d have to sell or rent our home and move somewhere cheaper.

Not fun, but now I know what that looks like, and I feel much better. I’m no longer spinning on how bad it could be. Once you’ve made the unknown known, and determined how to survive it, the scary monster loses its teeth.

So let’s talk about some of the crises a writer might face, and how to mitigate the risks now to set your mind at ease.

Financial Drought

Trying to make a living as a writer can be tough. Contracts collapse or come too infrequently, algorithms change, markets get saturated, and genre popularity fluctuates.

What can you do now to help you weather a sudden drop in income?

You could keep your resume current, take a part-time job to give yourself some reliable income, or take on some freelance work. Or maybe find somewhere in the budget to cut back, and start putting cash into a rainy-day fund while the skies are still clear.

World on Fire

Sometimes life throws everything at you. Financial problems, health issues, family emergencies, natural disasters, and even fun things like babies and weddings and retirement.

What would happen to your writing—and possibly your income—if you were too busy, sad, stressed, or distracted? There’s a good chance it would stop.

Can you build some contingency padding into your next deadline/contract? Could you commit now to allowing yourself to deal with the event without the added stress of trying to write (unless it provides a positive distraction)?

Health Hurricane

Injuries, aging, hormonal changes, and disease impact everything, including your ability and/or desire to write.

I won’t get into all the health advice, but you probably know at least one thing you could do that would have a positive impact on your future health. Will you pick one and start today?

Technology Tornado

Even the most tech-savvy writer can have a computer disaster. To mitigate the risk of losing all those hard-won words, I urge you to create daily backups. Ideally, you’d have at least one that’s not colocated with your computer.

Also, it’s good practice to restart your computer—don’t just turn it off—once a week to ensure a complete reset of the system, clearing RAM and temporary files, and allowing for updates and fixes to install.

Creative Quake

Aforementioned disasters aside, sometimes our creativity gets blocked for no obvious reason. Worrying only seems to make it worse. What will you do if the muse deserts you?

Picking up Author in Progress would be a great start. ;-) Dozens of  contributors from this very site offer up a broad range of ideas for getting—and keeping—the words flowing.

You might also keep a list of what’s worked for you in the past, and pull it out next time the story stalls out. But consider, too, that maybe this is part of the process, the way you’re wired, and that your brain is working hard in the background to figure out what comes next. Figure out now how you’ll spend the time your subconscious needs for the ideas to coalesce. Then, when the time comes, you’ll feel in control because you already have a plan to go for a walk, dig in the garden, read a good book, or binge a TV show until the words come back. You know they will.

Weathering the Storms

Creating contingency plans can not only alleviate stress now, but help you survive whatever comes your way. I’m a believer in “Expect the best, but prepare for the worst.” What about you?

Have you encountered any unexpected disasters in your writing journey? Do you have any recommendations to share?