From Edie: Discover four essential anchors that help writers slow down, find their authentic voice, and rediscover the joy of creating. Learn how gentle writing practices, personal rituals, and intentional presence can transform your writing life and strengthen your confidence on the page.
4 Anchors Every Writer Needs: How to Slow Down, Find Your Voice, and Reclaim the Joy of Writing
by Sarah Sally Hamer @SarahSallyHamer
Writers often think that writing is a race. We’re told that we need to produce pages or we won’t have a career. Helpful friends and family ask us, “Did you finish that book? Did you sell it?” And, worst of all, we stare at an empty page and pray for the Muse to give us an idea. Any idea!
But that’s not really what being a writer means. Instead, it’s a reclamation. A slow unfolding. Setting anchors to hold us to what’s important. A return to the voice you forgot you were allowed to have.
Whether you’re just beginning—journaling in the quiet hours, sketching characters on napkins, or just trying to figure out how to get the voices in your head onto a piece of paper— or have been writing for years, know this: The page is not waiting for perfection. It’s waiting for your presence.
Here are four gentle anchors to help you:
Anchor #1. Write Like You’re Planting Seeds, Not Performing Tricks
Do you put pressure on yourself to impress other people that you’re a writer? Writing isn’t a circus act—it’s a garden. Each word is a seed. Some will bloom quickly. Others will sleep underground for seasons. Your job is not to force growth, but to tend the soil of your story and allow it the time it needs to find the sun and grow.
Be messy. Let your metaphors wander. Let your sentences breathe. The page is a place of permission, not performance.
Try this: Begin each writing session with a question, not a goal. “What do I want to say today?” is more nourishing, and beneficial, than “What do I have to get done?”
Anchor #2. Honor the Voice Beneath the Voice
Most writers, beginning or well-established, wrestle with finding their own voice instead of sounding like someone else. But the truth is, your most powerful writing will sound like you. The you that writes emails and talks to other people. The one that speaks in dreams, in memories, in elemental truths. In so many words, the voice you truly talk with. That’s the one you want to put on paper, not the one you think people want to hear. And, because it’s yours, it’s unique and wonderful.
To find it, write without editing. Write as if no one will read it. Write as if you’re whispering to your future self across time. You can always edit later, if you need to, but finding that voice is one of the most important things you can do.
Anchor #3. Create Rituals, Not Routines
New writing students often ask me what my writing schedule is. Do I stay up late? Get up early? Write a certain number of words every day? I hate to see their faces when I tell them that the time of day or the volume of work doesn’t drive me. It isn’t the end-all of solutions for being successful. I don’t do well with routine. There are many very successful writers who do have specific times where the Muse comes and sits with them and I’m glad it works for them. It just doesn’t for me.
I recommend that you find your own rhythm. Don’t force yourself to write at 4 a.m. with a cup of guilt, unless that really works for you. Create a ritual that fits YOUR life and style. There are as many ways and times to write as there are writers. Whatever works for you, works.
Many writers use ritual or have reminders to anchor them. One of mine is a framed rejection letter where, even though she didn’t buy my book, an editor praised me for my innovative and purposeful prose and my storytelling skills. It hangs on the wall above my desk and I read it almost every time I sit down. I also use candles or music or essential oils when I’m writing – things that help me concentrate.
Remember, ritual can anchor your nervous system. It can signal safety and freedom to create. And both are the soil where creativity flourishes.
Anchor #4. Read Like a Writer, Not a Critic
Reading is not just consumption—it’s an education. We notice and learn from the architecture beneath the prose. The way a sentence curves. The way a metaphor opens a door. The way silence is used as punctuation. Good writing can inspire; bad writing can teach. Analysis of both are priceless, because we learn from practice.
I suggest to my students that they keep a notebook next to them when they read (or watch a movie or a TV show). Pay attention. What made you laugh? Cry? Did you like the protagonist? Why or why not? Did you find the structure beneath the words?
The more you read—and analyze—the better writer you’ll be.
Final Whisper: You Are Already Enough
Remember, one of the greatest English writers told us, “To thine own self be true.” Do you think William Shakespeare ever wondered if he could actually write? Do you think he had days when he had to anchor himself to his own voice? I do. I think we all do. In fact, I believe that every great writer was once a beginner who chose to begin again.
My wish for you is that you begin again, as many times as you need to.
What anchors you?
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A teacher of memoir, beginning and advanced creative fiction writing, and screenwriting at Louisiana State University in Shreveport for over twenty years, she also teaches online for Margie Lawson at WWW.MARGIELAWSON.COM and atHTTPS://NOSTRESSWRITING.COM/. Sally is a free-lance editor and book coach, with many of her students and clients becoming successful, award-winning authors. You can find her at SALLY@MINDPOTENTIAL.ORG
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