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.

A long-time fan of bestselling authors and coaches Marc and Angel Chernoff, I look forward to reading their emails and blog posts. Here’s an excerpt from a recent post:

When I was a high school freshman, a 260-pound freshman girl showed up for track and field tryouts right alongside me. Her name was Sara, and she was only there because her doctor said her health depended on it. But once she scanned the crowd of students who were on the field, she turned around and began walking away. Coach O’Leary saw her, jogged over, and turned her back around.

“I’m not thin enough for this sport!” Sara declared. “And I’ll never be! It’s impossible for me to lose enough weight. I’ve tried.”

Coach O’Leary nodded and promised Sara that her body type wasn’t suited for her current weight. “It’s suited for 220 pounds,” he said.

Sara looked confused. “Most people tell me I need to lose 130 pounds,” she replied. “But you think I only need to lose 40?”

Coach O’Leary nodded again.

Sara started off as a shot-put competitor, but spent every single afternoon running and training with the rest of the track team. She was very competitive, and by the end of our freshman year she was down to 219 pounds. She also won 2nd place in the countywide shot-put tournament that year. Three years later, during our senior year, she won 3rd place in the 10K county run. Her competitive weight at the time was 132 pounds.

There was a time when Sara was convinced that it was impossible to lose weight because, in her past experience, it had never worked out the way she had hoped. She had failed a few times and eventually lost faith in herself. But with consistency — with the right daily habits and willingness to try again — she restored her faith and achieved the “impossible.” And when Sara showed up to my poolside birthday party in Miami recently, I smiled when I overheard another guest compliment her on her bathing suit and physique.

Of course, Sara still works really hard — she chooses wisely — every single day to maintain what she has achieved.

And, so do I…

Note: I highly recommend subscribing to Marc & Angel’s website.

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!

Source: Writing Unboxed

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 post on the Writer Unboxed blog, award-winning author Julie Carrick Dalton shared several examples of creative cross-pollination. Here’s an excerpt from that post:

I’ve always admired writers who abide by the butt-in-chair ethos. You know who I’m talking about, the writers who get up every day at 5 am, or who dedicate themselves to a regular writing practice that sustains them.

But this article is for the rest of us, all of us other writers who can’t always adhere to a regular writing discipline, because we crave creativity in other places – in the kitchen, art studio, dance floor, or garden.

Consider this your creative hall pass: step away from the laptop, embrace your other passions, and know that every pursuit—whether it’s painting, dancing, or growing herbs—can supercharge your writing and nourish your spirit.

I spend a lot of time in my garden where I grow dozens of herbs, flowers, and fruits that I harvest, dehydrate, and blend into teas. Some of my best writing ideas arrive when I’m elbow-deep in chamomile, or when I’m blending up the perfect balance of mint, lemon balm, lemon verbena, and bee balm to settle a loved one’s upset stomach.

I often indulge my tea-blending hobby when I’m having a tough time writing. I used to think of it as a distraction, a form of procrastination—but I’ve decided to reframe it as creative cross-pollination. Sometimes, the boldest move for our writing is a strategic retreat—leaning into a new kind of making, so ideas can sprout in unexpected places.

Read the rest of the post here.