On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.
In a recent Writer Unboxed blog post, author Harper Ross shared the following advice on how to weather the emotional ups and downs of the writing life:
There’s a Japanese art called kintsugi where broken pottery is repaired using gold. The cracks aren’t hidden. They’re highlighted, honored, and made beautiful. That’s a lovely way to think of the writing life. It’s not about being unbreakable. It’s about letting your setbacks become part of the story… and then getting back to work with a little more sparkle in your seams.
Here’s what that looks like for me.
Rejection
It’s inevitable that, at some point in your career, you’ll face less-than-glowing beta or critique feedback, unanswered queries, and page requests that result in polite rejections. Each one lands differently, but every rejection stings.
My process for overcoming defeat? I grieve. For an hour, a day, or even a week, depending on the weight of the blow. Then I remind myself: this is one person’s opinion, not a universal verdict. With distance, rejection becomes what it really is—data. Sometimes useful, sometimes not. Always temporary.
I also try to reframe things by empathizing with agents and editors: of all the books I’ve read, how many would I bet my career on? Maybe forty. And yet, I’ve loved hundreds more. That’s how subjective this business is. Somewhere out there, your future reader is waiting for exactly the story only you can tell.
So, I dust off my ego and write anyway. Because my voice matters—even when some people don’t hear it yet.
Jealousy
Nothing quite matches the ache of seeing someone else get what you want. The deal. The review. The spotlight. I’ve felt it. I’m not proud—but I’m not ashamed, either.
Jealousy is just information. It reveals what you hunger for. If you can resist letting it fester into bitterness, you can use it to clarify your goals and fuel your next step. Envy, repurposed, becomes motivation.
Waiting
Nobody tells you how much of this “author’s life” is just…waiting. For responses. For edits. For launch dates. For signs from the universe.
Coming up in this industry during the age of instant everything, I find myself acting like a flustered teen when confronted by even a mild delay in getting a response. To combat my impatience, I’ve started to rebrand those lulls as bonus hours. That simple mental shift motivates me to walk the dog, call a friend, bake cookies, or binge-watch something ridiculous and delightful. Not only do those activities make the waiting bearable—they also refill the creative well. That last part is critical for the hard work of writing the next chapter or next idea.
Creative Drain
Creativity isn’t a faucet you turn on and off on a whim. It’s a fragile ecosystem—and publishing can be a storm. To protect it, you need boundaries.
If a negative review sends you into a days-long negative spiral, avoid checking your book’s Goodreads page. If each political volley reported in your Bluesky feed sends you hiding beneath the covers, limit exposure to social media with apps like Freedom. Stuck in a story rut? Write nonsense scenes just for fun. The best antidote to burnout isn’t a new productivity hack—it’s joy.
Community
I’ve written before about the power of community, but it bears repeating: I wouldn’t still be here without my writing friends. The ones who cheer the wins, sit with the losses, and read the messy drafts without judgment.
Find your people. Writing may be solitary, but survival is not.
If you’re in that murky middle—rejected, exhausted, or just plain stuck—you’re not failing. You’re feeling. You’re human. And you’re still here. Hopefully, some of these tips will keep you going!
My new book Melt is a mystery. It’s also a story about friendship. Melt is what happens when three yogis with a penchant for solving crime are asked to help prevent a seventeen-year-old boy from going to jail for the rest of his life. It requires more than a downward dog.
Joanne Guidoccio 