After you’ve achieved the first few of your major writing goals—or even before those major milestones, if you lead a particularly busy life—you might find yourself forgetting to celebrate. Or, what might be even more common: choosing not to celebrate, opting instead to move onto the next item on the to-do list.
Or maybe you’re like me, and cut things so close to a deadline, you don’t have time to celebrate. (I’m getting better about this in 2022, I swear! No, really!)
But, dear reader/writer, I’m here to tell you that celebrating your writing wins isn’t just fun and a nice way to de-stress—I’d argue it’s a very important part of that cycle of productivity. Forgetting or refusing to take time out for self-care and recognizing your accomplishments can and will lead to burnout.
Trust me when I say that reigniting your love for life after being burnt out takes a lot more time than stopping to smell the roses you’ve grown ever will.
To help you get into the habit of reveling in your awesomeness, I’ve put together twenty recommendations for how to celebrate your next writing win! In doing so, I’ve strived to keep this list as low-cost as possible and accessible to all types of folks. If I missed your favorite way to celebrate a writing win, email me at megan@writersatelier.com, and I’ll add your suggestion to the list!
- Share it with the Writer’s Atelier online community.
- Or share it with your your critique group.
- Or share it with your newsletter.
- Find a way to dress up a little on the big day—even if it’s as subtle as a favorite shirt, a piece of jewelry, painting your nails, or a different way of doing your hair.
- Count your wins by giving yourself a literal gold star—with a sticker or a doodle—in your planner, on your calendar, or on an index card you keep in your wallet.
- Use a special, favorite pen all day, or purchase a new one.
- Spring for (or make yourself) a treat, like cookies or a fancy latte.
- Put on an upbeat playlist and have a dance party—or just vibe to the music.
- Take a break to stream or (re)read a guilty pleasure (and don’t feel guilty!). If writing-related podcasts are your jam, we have a recommendation for you!
- Burn a nice-smelling candle to coincide with the fiery passion you have for writing.
- Tell us all about it in a blog post and submit it!
- Make a Pinterest board or physical mood board for the project you’re not ready to write yet (or any other aspiration you may have) but are really excited about.
- Print out a coloring page, sudoku grid, logic puzzle, or other fun printable to relax with with for a few minutes if you’re short on time. If you find logic puzzles fun but don’t have access to a printer, TedEd riddles are a blast, and I found a free ten-minute online escape room!
- Take a trip to a park and have a picnic, or just enjoy the great outdoors. If leaving your dwelling isn’t an option, try a virtual tour like this one! Consider putting on a soothing playlist or soundscape while you soak in nature’s beauty for maximum relaxation.
- In the same vein, you could take time for yourself and meditate (especially if you don’t normally). If you’re new to meditating, we have a The Write Meditation mini-series on Instagram!
- Dive back into one of your hobbies you haven’t gotten around to enjoying recently (for me, that’s painting with watercolors).
- Keep a journal about your writing wins to look at whenever you feel discouraged. Don’t forget to document all of your past writing wins, too!
- Take advantage of your local library’s offerings by taking a free class or checking out a book you’ve been dying to read.
- Play a video game or board game with friends and turn off your brain!
- If your writing win includes some sort of monetary benefit for you, add whatever you can spare—be it a quarter or a few dollars—into a jar or no-minimum savings account to save for something special.
Do you have a friend who’s celebrating a writing win?
Well, you should send them this list, of course!
But if you know they are not the type to stop and smell the roses they themselves have grown and cultivated, then consider buying them a card from our Literary Card Collection collaboration with Pretty Peacock Paperie and sending it via snail mail. Who doesn’t love a handwritten-with-love kind of surprise?
If you celebrate your or your friend’s writing win and post about it on social media, don’t forget to tag us, @writersatelier!
