As I mentioned last week, we have recently added three new bloggers to our team. Today, Pam Halter provides insight on how to maintain healthy writing habits. Take it away, Pam! -- Carol Baldwin

A Reminder from Scripture

Then he (Elijah) lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once, an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 1Kings 19:5 NIV

Are you tired today? Are you hungry? Do your hands ache at the prospect of starting another writing day? Elijah felt tired and discouraged, too. So much so, he wanted to die. But God had plans for him and sent an angel to feed and strengthen him.

Eat Right!

God has plans for His writers, as well. We all need to be fed and encouraged in our calling. Sometimes, God will send an “angel” and sometimes we are required to take care of ourselves. We can’t write at our best when we are distracted by fatigue, hunger, and pain.

Our readers need to be fed, too. After all, they’re growing children who need nutrients to be healthy. But we can’t give them the best spiritual food in our writing if we are lacking that food ourselves.

So, today, begin with breakfast, something healthy and delicious. Get encouragement from the Word of God by spending time with your Bible and in prayer.

See Right!

If you wear glasses, ask about the coating for them that filters out the harmful light that comes off the computer screen. If you don’t wear prescription glasses, you can still get glasses that filter out the blue light. This will help prevent eye fatigue. https://www.eyebuydirect.com/eyecare/what-do-blue-light-glasses-do

Another thing that helps with eye fatigue is the 20-20-20 method. Every 20 minutes look up from the computer at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. It still amazes me how much that helps when I remember to do it. (I confess, I don’t think of it until my eyes go unfocused or I can’t read things right.)

Finally, before you begin to type, ease the muscles in your hands by using the stretching exercise below. And when your writing day is done, make sure to get sufficient rest at night.

Pray Right!

If you can’t do morning devotions, do them when you can. I have a special needs adult daughter, Anna, who needs full time care. I do my devos at night when it’s quiet. I read out loud to Anna. Even though she’s severely mentally retarded, she loves Jesus. She loves it when I read Scripture to her. Sometimes, a reading will prompt a song. She loves praise music, too. 

Writing is more than just putting words on paper – it is a full body experience. If we want to be at our best, we must take care of our bodies as well as our writing technique.

Hand Exercise

Here’s a great exercise for stretching our hand muscles. It also helps with carpal tunnel symptoms. I like to call this the Prayer Stretch.

Stand or sit with your hands, palms together, fingers pointing up and elbows out. Slowly rotate your hands at the wrists away from your body, keeping palms together. Then rotate back toward your body. Do this several times.

Next, place your hands with the backs together and fingers pointing down. Rotate in toward your body and back out. Again, do this several times. If you have carpal tunnel, this exercise will hurt. But faithful stretching will help alleviate the pain.

Journal how taking care of your body affects your writing. Be specific, maybe even dating before and after, how exercise and healthy choices have changed your writing.

If thinking about doing all this makes you feel a tad overwhelmed, just pick one thing. See what works best for you.

Pam Halter is a former home-schooling mom, has been a children’s book author since 1995, a freelance children’s book editor since 2006, and was the children’s book editor for Fruitbearer Publishing until January 2023. She’s the author of Fairyeater, a YA fantasy, and the Willoughby and Friends picture book series (available on her website.) Pam has also published short stories in Ye Olde Dragon Books , the Whitstead Anthologies and Renewed Christmas Blessings. Her first short story won Readers Choice in Realmscapes.  

Pam lives in Southern New Jersey with her husband, Daryl, special needs adult daughter, Anna, and four cats. When she’s not writing, Pam enjoys spending time with her grands, reading, quilting, gardening, cooking, playing the piano, Bible study, and walking long country roads where she discovers fairy homes, emerging dragons, and trees eating wood gnomes.