When you experience loss and tragedy in your life, you eventually learn to live with it but when you write about it, it can become hard to maintain an air of positivity. Writing about this kind of thing will nee a unique approach so follow these 10 tips to staying positive:

Remember What Your Purpose Is

Think about why you write about something that will make you sad? Think about what your motivation is and write it down. List your motivations and keep that list to hand because, on occasion, you may need a reminder of why you are doing it.

Prepare Yourself to Welcome Back a Companion

Grief is one of the strangest of all companions and, when you start writing about loss or tragedy, you will be poking hard at it and bringing it all back to life. You need to adjust yourself to that companion of yours returning, to be with you all the time you are writing. Just keep in mind that we only grieve for what is important to us and, when we start to dig into grief, we start to relive our own again. Don’t allow yourself to sink back into it; instead, use it as a learning process.

Try to Lighten Up

Is your timeline flexible? What are your options? As you write, you might start to find that it is just too difficult to keep on writing. There is nothing wrong with taking a break; step back, walk away. Leave the book alone and do something else, either get out of the house or turn your attention to another writing project. Regroup yourself, relax and lighten up. Then, when you feel ready, start again.

Give Yourself a Reward

Do you know what helps to lift your spirits up? Is it a nice cup of coffee? Some music? A scented candle or two burning? Do you find that taking your dog for a walk relaxes you? Whatever it is, identify it and then do it. Every time you meet a milestone, celebrate by doing something that really makes you feel good.

Start a Calendar

There are writers who need a daily schedule to work to and others who prefer to just sit and write non-stop for a few days. If you are in the early part of writing about a sad loss or tragedy, it might be better to do the latter. Prepare your meals ahead of time, get a stash of your favorite snacks in, and block off a couple of days on your calendar. Settle in and go for it. However, when it comes to editing, you need to do things differently; instead, schedule several mornings or afternoons, whenever you do your best work, for editing. Using a calendar and having a set plan in place will keep distractions to a minimum and will help you to stay on track, not to mention in the right frame of mind needed to do what you have to do.

Take a breather and then we’ll move on to the next steps.