Real Tools for Writers with Depression
S.R. Beaston
Crafty with words, wit, and wisdom, just add caffeine to make it more interesting.
Writing can be very therapeutic. Whether you are an amateur writer or a full-time novelist, putting words to a page is a great way to relieve temporary symptoms of depression and pent-up emotions. Unfortunately, if writing is your job, there is that element of stress that comes to this helpful self-tool.
I am not a doctor, nor a therapist, but I have been in this unfortunate state of ‘mentally unwell’ for most of my life. Having to build myself from the ground up (multiple times), some part of me knew writing was still my calling, and through trial and error, pain, and the ever-looming threat of giving up, I have gathered tools to help keep myself on track. I hope that, whatever my fellow depressed writers are going through, this makes things just a little bit easier.
Here are tools for writers with depression.
A Journal
$ Multiple studies$ have proven that journaling can decrease the amount of anxiety, stress and depressive symptoms over the span of just a month. It doesn’t even have to be every day. But let’s be real, if you are a writer, you might want to write every day—and not that novel you’ve been working on.
Journal your thoughts, feelings, fears, and anything you love. Just write it all. Write when you can, but make it a goal to write at least three times a week. When that feels very doable, make it four, then five, then try for every day.
This will not cure you, but giving yourself a judgment-free outlet where anything goes is a great first step to help yourself and ignite the need to write.
Just get a simple journal. Buy a 3 pack of the $ dotted grid spiral notebooks$ . Use one for your novel, one for your thoughts, and a back-up. Don’t go out of your way to buy a big, expensive, beautiful journal. You know you’ll be too scared to use it.
The thing I love most about these journals is how you can make your own designs for it. My novel journal is now something I look forward to writing in because I themed it around my story. My emotions journal, I left plain, so I don't hesitate to write in it.
NovelPad
NovelPad has a wonderful and simple system with tools to help any writer with their unique needs. With depression, the lack of will, motivation, and routine can completely derail our writing.
The goals tab allows me to not only set my word count for a specific time (day, week, month), but it accounts for the days I haven’t written and adjusts my numbers accordingly. I don’t have to go back and do the math, self-imposing failure and getting frustrated for what I "haven’t done". Instead, I can just keep moving forward.
The $ notes function$ has saved my novel multiple times. Depression messes with your memory, so on the rare occasion my genius strikes, I type up my ideas and link them to the relevant scenes. When I'm having a bad day, I can use those notes as my guide for an easier writing session.
NovelPad has a wonderful discord community, and I have found friendship in the workshop I participate in. We aren't just critique partners anymore, but people who share our days together. My partners have been very understanding and supportive when I need to take a pause. A good support group makes the guilt of this illness a lot less painful.
My writing group is also a source of motivation. Knowing that valued writers are waiting to read my work is just the right kind of incentive that drives me to write, even when I can’t do much else.
A Laptop
"Buy a laptop, in this economy?" I hear you. I’m hoping you already have one. I still don’t have one myself, but laptops can really help bridge the gap between the unwillingness to get up and the guilt or need to at least do SOMETHING productive that day.
It doesn’t have to be expensive, and honestly, the less the laptop can do, the better. This is a tool for those times you simply cannot get out of bed, and instead doom-scroll on your phone and cycle through the same four apps to numb your consciousness.
A laptop (or comparable compact tool, like a tablet with a keyboard or an electric typewriter) can help you get started where you're at. Getting out of bed is another barrier between you and writing, and a smaller device can help you around it.
Easy (but healthy-ish) Food
Eating is the first thing I want to do when depressed, but cooking is the last. Because of this, I tend not to eat anything for long periods of time, exacerbating the brain fog, fatigue, and irritability that comes with my depressive episodes. Everyone is different, so if you are never hungry when depressed, this still applies. You need something or you are just going to feel worse.
Make sure you have some snacks around the house. Try to avoid things like chips, candy, and pastries. My favorite go-to snack is either yogurt with honey apples with honey roasted peanut butter. It’s the best mixture of healthy, yet sweet and filling. Keep some easy access snacks with protein and fiber nearby. Chase that down with your favorite comfort beverage and get to writing!
Stationery
Stationery products are a practical need for writers. Most of us have a favorite pen, sticky notes all over the place, and paperclips grouping chapters of drafts together. I’ve made a habit to get only the things that have been proven helpful to me (to declutter my desk) and also get a version of them I enjoy to use. Aesthetics and atmosphere can really help you get out of your own head and into a more inviting and fun environment.
I personally put most of these items in a nice bookbag, ready to go if I decide my house is too small or too much for me to deal with. I grab my bookbag full of writing-goodies and I go to ‘anywhere-but-here’.
Music
After listing several things that cost money, let's gear towards some free tools to help the depressed writer. Use YouTube (or any music player you may already be subscribed to) and create playlists! Find songs that get you feeling something about your novel again, be it excitement, determination, energy, whatever.
I created an overall "story" playlist with songs that fit either the vibe or the scenario of scenes in my novel, weaving a vague narrative that I love to just go through to remind myself, "Oh, that’s going to be a good scene, I can’t wait to get back to that."
I also create character playlists for similar reasons. Sometimes I lose focus on a character, or they are JUST annoying enough to write that my depression begs I don’t bother. These songs remind me who they are and why they deserve to be written.
Maybe you just want to listen to music. Like journaling, this is a proven method of helping overall mental health, but let’s face it, it’s really fun to make a soundtrack based on the movie you see in your head.
‘Done’ Lists
A ‘Done’ list is exactly how it sounds. It’s a list of things you have already accomplished that day. With depression, it’s often not enough to write down all the things we need to do. In fact, seeing everything we need to do can get overwhelming and upsetting.
Again, this varies from person to person, so get to know yourself and how depression affects you before commiting to one practice over another. I do not get the feeling of "accomplishment" regardless of what I do, but I do have memory trouble, so I make a very vague and pointed to-do list with an emphasis on the "done" aspect, marking a thick line across what I’ve accomplished.
My list is broken into microscopic tasks that are easy to do and check off. The more I’ve done, the more I’m willing to do. Action begets action. "An object in motion stays in motion." Again, the hardest thing to do is start, but seeing that you have started and marking that as "complete" can be a great motivator to continue.
Despite the cliche, you do not have to be struggling to be an artist. You do not need a dark and twisted mind to succeed. You are no less a writer for making your journey as easy and accessible as possible.
With such an isolating hobby and job, tools like these are important to ensure depression doesn't define your writing. Take care of yourself first, and the words will come later.
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