On Mental Health (a repost)

A reminder to fortify your support system...

I wrote this post back in December. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, I’m sharing it again…

The internet is buzzing with the story of Cait Corrain and the spectacular dive she recently took off her debut author platform. If you’re unfamiliar with what happened, pause for a full recap here. It is a terrible train wreck and she made so many bad decisions, but I can’t help but see all the red flags of how her agent, editor, and writer friends also failed her.

Being a writer is an incredibly isolating process. You spend most of your days inside your head moving pieces around in a world formed from your own imagination. One day you will seek and hopefully find a home for your writing, but that process often feels like a game where you’re the only one that doesn’t know the rules.

I am an editor, but I would argue that the biggest piece of my job is as a trusted friend. The writing business is not for the weak. In fact, I have years of training and volunteer experience on crisis hotlines that I never thought I’d use as an editor but I do…almost every day. I use this training when talking to authors during fragile times, to share my criticism as kindly and constructively as possible, to actively search for hidden meanings behind their words when they share rejection letters or ask questions about the business. A Sweet Valley High book where the twins were volunteers at a teen hotline inspired me to embark on this hobby and I never knew it would come so in handy. Maybe even more so than my English and Master’s in Publishing degrees.

Take a moment and ask yourself: what kind of support do I have in my writing journey? I encourage everyone on the precarious writing path to make your mental health a priority in whatever way that looks like for you. This is a hard business. Don’t forget to take care of yourself as much as you take care of your words.

I am honored that so many of my clients call me a friend and know that I care about them as well as their writing. And I hope that other agents and editors will start checking in on their clients’ mental health as much as they check in on their writing.

Until next time,

Inside an Editor’s Brain is written by Kristen Weber, a freelance book editor who has worked with thousands of authors over the course of her career. She aims to be a kind and trustworthy voice during the crazy-making writing and publishing business. You can read most articles for free, but if you’d like to support Kristen and her efforts and get access to a few bonus issues consider upgrading below.