Photo by Jürgen Fauth via Wikimedia Commons

Author, Marcy Dermansky, has published five novels to date. She has received fellowships from MacDowell and the Edward Albee Ranch, and has also won the Smallmouth Press Andre Dubus Novella Award and the Story Magazine Carson McCullers Short Story Prize. Her short fiction has appeared in publications such as McSweeney's, Guernica, and Lenny Letter, and she has written essays for The Paris Review, Lit Hub, and Salon.

This week, she published an article in Lit Hub about her own writing process. It is both encouraging and insightful—a valuable read for anyone engaged in any creative pursuit.

"Yes, I do get writers block. No, I don’t write every day. Yes, there are periods, sometimes months and months, when I don’t write at all. I never ever recommend this. Writers who don’t write are unhappy people."

"I still feel panicked before I sit down to write. Sometimes, I think I will never write another book again and feel awful. Eventually, I get back to work. I find a way that works for me and for a little while I am happy. And then circumstances changes and I have to come up with a brand new way to work."

"There is always a new process. Believe this."

ARTICLE: The First Step in the Writing Process: Be Kind to Yourself