This post is words of encouragement for writers. Many of you are stay at home parents, and you homeschool your kids (or you’ve been thinking about it). Many of you deal with chronic illness, or special needs children, or both. Most days, you’re lucky if you get a shower. When you have to leave the house, you’re pretty much guaranteed to be exhausted by the time you get home. How on earth are you supposed to write? “All the experts” say write for at least 30 minutes a day, preferably two hours or more. That’s all well and good for most people, but you? Ha!

Before you give up, and it’s tempting, I know, please let me tell you this true story. Only the names have been changed.

Inspirational story

A friend of mine—let’s call her Tess—wanted to be a writer since she was a girl. She wrote a little here and there, and she enjoyed most of the writing assignments in school. Then she grew up and got married, and she put her writing in a drawer, both literally and figuratively. She had been taught that her husband and children had to come first, and that her needs (only people called them “desires”) weren’t important.

She didn’t receive words of encouragement for writers. Instead, she was urged to be a good wife and mother, not to follow her dream or use her talents. So she swallowed the urge to write and she loved on her family, doing everything for them that she could. Sometimes she would notice the drawer, but she rarely gave it more than a glance.

Words of encouragement for writers—you can write.

Chronic illness

Over time, her body started hurting and it was more than just the normal aches and pains of life. She was tired more often, and it took longer to bounce back. Eventually she went to the doctor and found out that she had three chronic illnesses, one of which would eventually kill her.

Tess kept doing all she could for her family, but she couldn’t do as much anymore. Her children were a little older at this point, so they could take over some of the household chores and the cooking. Tess still wanted, needed, ached to write, but she still didn’t do it. She cried herself to sleep some nights. She didn’t tell her husband or her kids, but she told me. Her email made me cry. She had a strong need to write, and even she didn’t realize just how important it was to get that need met. Oh, the pain that holding it in caused her!

Online writing courses

In addition to some words of encouragement for writers, I gave her a copy of my ebook, Writer Program: The Nitty Gritty, and a copy of the self-paced lessons I created to go with it. It’s a self-contained online writing course that can be adapted to fit the person’s life. It was the first one I created (my new one is better).

She struggled with finding the time to write. She didn’t do one lesson a week, because she had so many other things to do. She thought that meant that she was a failure, destined not to be a writer.

But she is a writer.

She’s written dazzling things, touching things. She has a way of making her readers feel like she’s talking right to them, and them alone. She feels like a friend in no time, through her writing. But in her mind, she’s “not really a writer.” She said she doesn’t have enough time, or the energy, and some days, she doesn’t have the brain power—she just can’t be a writer. She needed to hear words of encouragement for writers.

So I took her gently by the shoulders (gently—I have fibromyalgia and I know how much touch can hurt) and said softly, “It’s okay. You can still write, and you are a writer. Here’s how I’m going to help, if you want it.” That time, we both cried.

(Note to some of my friends: if you’re recognizing yourself here and think that I’m talking about you, you can relax. I’m actually talking about several of you! Yes, this story applies to several of you, regarding every item that is mentioned. I’d bet that others reading this nodded their heads as they read the story, too. This scenario is more common than we might think! Apparently, my typical reader is a female who homeschools special-needs children, suffers from chronic illness/pain, and has an aching desire to write.)

Words of encouragement for writers

So, book baker to be, imagine me taking you gently by the shoulders and saying the same thing to you, especially when you get discouraged, and you will get discouraged. You can still write. You are a writer.

How? You have a home to manage, and children, and maybe a spouse, and possibly some money-making ventures… You’re tired, and you may even be hurting physically. Brain fog sets in…how are you supposed to write anything?! That’s what this whole blog is about: how you can write, with all the other things you have on your plate. How to find the motivation and the energy, carve out little bits of time and space, come up with ideas, how to shape up the mess you see on your screen (or in your notebook), and how to find a place for your writing in the world.

Writing tips

Just a few ideas for coping:

• Write when your brain is working best.
• Write even if it’s only for a few minutes.
• Jot down ideas while you stand in line at the bank, store, or fast-food joint.
• Carry a digital recorder and talk into it, even if it’s just one sentence.
• Stop beating yourself up! You are a blessing to others, and you should bless yourself, too.
• Buy or make a set of writing prompt cards.
• Get up earlier than everyone else, or stay up later than everyone else. This does not have to be HOURS earlier/later, though it will be tempting at times! It can be just 10 or 15 minutes a day. Yes, really! I know it will be tempting to get up or stay up much later than your family members because it tempts me. I must admit that there have been nights I stayed up until 5am, because I was on a roll, and it was finally quiet, and I could work. I usually get a lot done (over 5,000 words the last time). Staying up too late can mean paying for it for days afterward. You know your body better than anyone else does. Only you know what you can do. Just remember that even a few minutes is progress.

Takeaway: Every one of us needs some words of encouragement for writers from time to time (some of us more than others). Come here and perk yourself up whenever you need to, and share this to help others rise today.

As always, please share these posts on social media and add your helpful thoughts and ideas. (We Creatives have enough negative thoughts, we don’t need any more.) Thank you!

Click here to book a coaching call with Jennifer Harshman, The Book Baker.

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You may have heard some of the podcast episodes Jennifer Harshman has been on, such as The Mark Struczewski Show or Debi Ronca’s Transition Bridge, or you may have seen some TikTok videos that caused you to wonder, “Who is The Book Baker? What is the concept of baking a book all about?”

Jennifer Harshman, The Book Baker

If you haven’t already, then meet Jennifer Harshman, The Book Baker. She hosts Your Book Bakery, a book-writing program. An author of several books, she wrote one for the program, and eventually may host a podcast related to it. She also has a TikTok channel where she helps people become authors and talks about a few other topics.

Jennifer’s been helping authors for decades, but only recently was she named The Book Baker by some of our clients. Why? Because she says if you can follow a recipe to bake a cake, then you can write a helpful nonfiction book.

That’s right! All you need to write a book is willingness and the right recipe, and Jennifer Harshman gives authors book-writing recipes all the time.

How did Your Book Bakery come to be?

We wanted to create a group-coaching program that would eventually give rise to a self-paced course. Jennifer’s process of helping authors write a draft in 12 weeks or less was perfect for that. She’s helped authors one at a time for years. So she created a program to walk a small group through it. Some people who were interested in it wanted her to call it a book boot camp, but she wanted something that sounded softer and sweeter. No yelling, please. Thus, the Your Book Bakery: 12 Weeks to a Manuscript book-writing program was born.

What’s with the whisk?

For years, people told her to “find her yellow tux.” She didn’t want to take that literally, and she already had some service offerings and other things that made her unique. Because of that, she didn’t focus on looking for some visual imagery that would make her stand out.

No ideas for that came to her until she started a TikTok channel and needed visual signals to show viewers whether a video was in the realms of writing, editing, or publishing, or whether it was about something else. So she chose to use a whisk for the writing-related videos. She has a small one and, thanks to a comment from a Facebook friend who saw her videos, a giant whisk. Those are her “microphones” on those videos.

Why does Jennifer Harshman wear a baker’s hat and apron?

John Schuchman of The Real Estate Survival Guide is a great friend and client. He follows Jennifer on TikTok. When they were talking one day, he told her he just had to see her in the whole getup for The Book Baker: a baker’s hat (called a toque) and apron to go with the whisks.

Jennifer thought that was hilarious, but it fits with the lighthearted approach to producing great books. She immediately ordered them. So that’s why. Peer pressure.