Publishing is a high-stress world–not just for those who work at a publishing house but also for authors, agents, and free-lancers of all stripes. It’s an odd mix of all the ordinary business aspects of finances, project management, and sales, plus the creative arts. Keeping a healthy balance between the two is tough. Writers experience those same stresses but also fear of failure, imposter syndrome (which Debbie wrote about recently), writers block, deadlines, building their platform, and publicizing their latest book, which includes being interviewed. How can you, with your crazy quilt job description, de-stress your publishing life?
Where to Begin?
A reader of our blog suggested I post how to handle stress and avoid burnout. When I recounted that suggestion to our office staff, they burst out laughing since, yes, I have survived decades of being connected to publishing, but I’m livin’ a high octane life, with stress levels rising daily. But, as I pondered the idea, I thought, Who better to write about stress than someone who is in the thick of it? So I’m raising my hand and volunteering, as a sufferer along with the rest in publishing, to write about what relieves stress for me and helps me to stay in this game long-term.
One concept that has stood me in good stead is recognizing that humans are amazingly resilient. We find ways to bend or stretch, to reconfigure our lives to fit “new normals” all the time. If you develop tendonitis, you wear a brace, learn to baby your hands, and avoid heavy lifting. Once the adjustment is made, life goes on. If you hurt your back, you move carefully, take pain-relieving meds, and adjust. (Not to mention consult with your doctor for any physical ailments.)
First Response
So, too, when you’re walloped with an unexpected deadline or a rejected but contracted manuscript, you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and make a plan. I’ve learned that, when the unwelcomed emergency comes into my work life, I concentrate on how to wrestle the situation back under control, recognize my nicely laid out to-do list should be tossed, and jump in with vigor. For me, working through the pain of a work emergency rather than hoping it will go away is a positive step to take. And it helps us to regain at least a modicum of control.
What Doesn’t Help to De-stress Your Publishing Life?
Much of the stress we feel is that lack of control. So, for me, figuring out how to get on top of the situation is a key reducer of stress. Avoidance seldom works. And let me add, when I say “get on top of the situation,” I’m not suggesting finding a solution–that’s usually discovered as a process rather than as an a-ha moment. I’m talking about figuring out what your next move will be, how you’ll adjust to the wallop you just received.
Sometimes, to the observer, it might look as though I’m not dealing with the situation immediately. But what I’m doing is plotting a strategy. I’m giving myself enough time to decide the best next move. I’m choosing not to respond with a gut reaction. Those reactions tend to spring from anger, fear, or panic. They tend to result in needing to retrace steps to:
- offer apologies
- try to clean up a mess we made when we trounced in too soon
- repair damaged relationships with colleagues.
What’s the first step you take when life punches you in the gut?
Featured image by S K from Pixabay
Second image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
“It might look as though I’m not dealing with the situation.” Yes, Janet! A coworker told me she used to get angry because I was ignoring a crisis. “I now know,” she confessed, “that you’re thinking about it by doing something else.” In my mind, I’m looking at the problem from obtuse angles, getting a tiny glimpse of what’s on the other side. Focusing on something else actually improves my perspective.
My friend, Patsy Claiirmont, describes this as “giving my brain an assignment.” While I’m working on other things, my brain comes back to the problem. And, as you wrote, looks at it from various angles. That’s where the next steps usually is lurking.
When life lands a sucker punch,
then pops my bright balloon,
I go and buy the devil lunch
at God’s Last Chance Saloon.
I offer to pick up the bill,
’cause he is really cheap,
and ask God to turn up the still
(Hus moonshine makes you weep!)
and then proceed to drink ol’ Scratch
straight beneath the table
where he falls with sodden crash
which shows that I am able
to count each tearful loss as win
‘long as I stand there with a grin.
Well, I never would have put it that way, but yes, drink the devil under the table.
‘The Devil Went Down To Georgia’ is one of Barb’s favourite songs (she plays the fiddle), and these days I look a bit like an Asian Charlie Daniels…
My sainted grandmother had a solution for just about everything. She used to say “when you don’t know what to do, just do the next thing”. It works especially well in times of stress for me. I turn my back on the stress-filled issue and do the next mundane task at hand. It gives me time to focus away from the issue and let my subconscious brain work on it without my freaking out. When I go back to it, it seems to have shrunk in proportion Then we can deal with the deadline, the problem, or the fall out. It’s worked for me in some very stressfsul times.
Judith, it’s odd how attending to something mundane gives our brains and hearts the necessary room to re-calibrate before taking another look at the troubling situation that has invaded our lives. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the matter.
I love your choice to be still, to plot, to wait. When things take me by surprise–that punch to the gut–I’ve tried to remind myself and my girls to trust, because no matter how awful things seem, God always takes care of us. He’s proven so faithful.