How to Stay Sane While Writing a Book

   As a self-published author, I can tell you from my own personal experience that when writing a book sometimes you feel as if for some reason you are being taken over.  Okay, maybe not exactly, but there are times when I am writing I find myself going down a path that seems to be so far from anything I would have ever thought about writing. (You see, I am more a pantser than a plotter.  I generally like to write from the seat of my pants.  Most of the time my idea of an outline consists of a beginning, a few notes, and if I am lucky I will have an idea for an ending.  Whereas, the plotter will outline every detail all the way to the end of their story.  This just doesn't work for me). 
 
     I have found that because I am a pantser that a lot of times I start writing something and then all of a sudden my story turns into the complete opposite from anything I would have ever thought.  For example my erotica book:  "The Ugly Side of Paradise", I would have never thought in a million years that this was something that I would have ever considered writing.  Yes, I generally write in the romance genre and there is usually sex in the books that I write, but to write a book like the "The Ugly Side of Paradise" filled with a whole lot of sex and foul language was just not something that if someone would have told me a few months before I ever started writing this book that I would, I most definitely would have told them NO WAY!

     So have any of you had this happen to you?  You start writing and then you're led into some other type of story?  Did this story change work for you?  Did it make you somewhat uncomfortable?  Did you write it anyway; only to not ever show it to anyone?

     Then there is the situation as you write the sick, sadistic, slimy story how to keep your sanity throughout it.  Yes, you can always stop writing it, but for me, for some reason, I felt driven to write "The Ugly Side of Paradise".  Every time I tried to abandon this story my brain wouldn't let me until this book was finished.  You would have then thought that I wouldn't have gone on to publish it, right?  Well, if you've been reading this blog then you know I did, in fact, publish this book.  You could only imagine what it was like for me to find the right beta readers to read it.  

     Anyway keeping one's sanity as you write a book like this is not too easy to do.  I knew when I decided to write this book and publish it that I was going to use a pen name.  (You can still read the article about pen names and whether they are a good idea from a previous article on this blog HERE)!

     I have to admit here that when writing a book about a subject that you generally don't write can be harder than the average story that you usually write.  In fact, I found that I had to take many breaks, and when I wrote this book I sort of had to separate myself from it.  I guess what I am saying is that sometimes when you write outside your comfort zone you have to basically become someone else.  Luckily, when I decided to use a pen name I just told myself E.S. Hart was the type to write this sort of book even if I wasn't.(lol)  I know this probably sound sort of strange since E.S. Hart and I are one in the same, but if you are a writer I'm sure on some level you understand what I am saying here, especially if you are using a pen name as well .

    So in the end, when writing a story that you wouldn't usually see yourself writing, try to take a break every hour for at least five to ten minutes and do something that would get you away from it like; taking a walk outside, reading someone else's book that is more uplifting, or what I like to do is watch an uplifting, music video like the one below:

     Sometimes this even helps when you are having writer's block and just need to clear your head.  Whatever you do breaking up the monotony this way generally will help you in the long run.  (At least it does for me).

    In my next blog entry, I'm going to talk about writer's block and how to deal with it.

    So stay tuned!