By A.C. Williams by @acw_author

One of the scariest, most upsetting words in the English language is the word CHANGE. Nobody really likes it, no matter how much they claim they do.

Change requires effort and energy, and, frankly, it’s usually just easier to keep doing things the same way. It’s easy to get stuck in the mindset of not rocking the boat. Maybe your car is stuck in the ruts, but at least it’s still moving forward. All progress is good progress, right?

Or is it?

Last month, we talked just briefly about the importance of making time to reflect on your life and career as an author. Too often I think we all just put our heads down and power through the obstacles in our path, and that’s not necessarily bad or wrong. But how many times have we missed the opportunity to learn because we weren’t paying attention?

That’s what reflection allows us to do: To learn. To identify what’s broken. To find what’s not working.

But once you find what’s not working, what’s the next step? Is it just an exercise in futility to identify what’s broken in your process and then do nothing about it? If you refuse to change, well, then yes.

You can’t fix something that’s broken unless you change your approach to it.

And don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t have to be broken. It could just be less efficient than it needs to be. But either way, if you’re doing something that is wasting more time than you have, something has to change. Or you’ll keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

So let’s say you’ve made time to reflect and you’ve found elements of your writing process (or your life) that aren’t working as well as they could be. What do you do? How do you change? Where do you even start?

Let’s get honest about something hard: You can’t separate the quality of your writing from the quality of your life.If your writing isn’t working, that may be an indication that something in your life isn’t working either.

You need to know yourself. Be honest about your habits and your weaknesses. It’s essential to be aware of what you struggle with. Are there days when you’re more productive than others? Are there times where you are more creative than others? If a new television show you’re excited about is streaming, can you choose to write before you binge it?

How much sleep do you need to be healthy? Not functional. Healthy. What are your dietary requirements? How much downtime do you need in order to be mentally healthy? How much social time do you need to be emotionally healthy?

All of those questions matter. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that maintaining a successful author career is all about the hustle. Sure, you can hustle through it. You can sacrifice your mental/emotional wellbeing to crank out the words, but the consequences of prioritizing your career over your health will catch up with you.

Ask me how I know.

So the first change you ought to consider is choosing to prioritize your health. It’s not selfish. It’s not ungodly. It’s common sense. If you aren’t taking care of yourself, you won’t have capacity to take care of others. Your physical, mental, and emotional health is a gift that God gave you, and it’s your responsibility to steward it in a way that pleases Him.

But what does that mean? Obviously, it looks different for everyone. All of us have different situations and circumstances, and each of us are in our own individual season of life. But likely what it means is that you will need to stop putting such a heavy focus on getting words on the page.

Yes, I know, that’s not what you want to hear at all, is it? But believe me when I tell you that if you’re not healthy, pouring what remains of your energy into your story isn’t going to help it. And it certainly won’t help you.

Take a step back. Remember how to breathe. Remember how to pray.

We like to say God gave us the stories we’re writing, but if that’s true, we should be writing the story with God. Not running off on our own steam. God doesn’t hand us projects and expect us to perform perfectly in our own strength. That’s not how He works at all.

No, our Jesus always provides what He requires. And it works the same way in writing our novels.

If you need to change something in your life or writing habits that isn’t working, that’s where you start. You get honest with God about yourself and your heart.

You are more than the book you’re writing. And just like you can’t serve or help someone when you’re exhausted and dragging on the floor, you can’t write a meaningful, life-changing story if your heart is a dumpster fire.

Get healthy. Get aligned with God. Get your priorities straight. Let God show you what matters most, and what you need to change will be obvious.

You won’t be less of a writer if you take a break from writing. Your words won’t be less valuable when you come back to it. On the contrary, your words may communicate truth in a more powerful way because you can speak from a healthy heart and a healed perspective on what really matters.

Award-winning author A.C. Williams is a coffee-drinking, sushi-eating, story-telling nerd who loves cats, country living, and all things Japanese. She’d rather be barefoot, and if she isn’t, her socks won’t match. She has authored eight novels, three novellas, three devotional books, and more flash fiction than you can shake a stick at. A senior partner at Uncommon Universes Press, she is passionate about stories and the authors who write them. Learn more about her book coaching and follow her adventures online at www.amycwilliams.com.