Writing With Mental Health Issues

This is even more personal than usual, but I would really like to share my experience.

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I am a very anxious person. While there is sort of a stereotype that artists are tortured souls and that is the source of their creativity, my anxiety actually has very negative effects on my writing. For example, I recently took one of the preliminary steps towards hopefully getting published, and this caused such severe worrying that I've been suffering from writer's block ever since.

While my anxiety can take me down roads of thought that lead to cool story ideas, it can also make me wonder if I'm good enough. These are obviously incredibly debilitating thoughts and concerns, and they never fail to negatively affect my writing.

In my experience, I just have to ride it out. There is little I can do or tell myself that will get me out of these funks. Sometimes, I'll attempt to power through, but this usually results in stilted, useless writing or even more discouragement as I'm not able to produce my usual content.

That's my system, as strange as it may seem. Really, everyone is different, both in writing and in mental health issues. You just have to find a system that works for me.

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I'm sorry that this week's article is so short, but after reading it, I'm sure you understand. This was basically my eloquent excuse for why I've not been publishing very helpful articles lately.

(Next weekend, there will also be no article because I will be on vacation.)