writing life – Ginger Simpson White

life, a stroke, grace, and writing…

I started writing this post the first week in January. I got only three paragraphs into it and then paused, intending to come back and finish in a few days – but then more “life stuff” happened, and I put this post and my blog aside, even though everything going on exactly fit what I had started to say. So I’ve decided to simply pick back up and continue…

I must admit to having mixed feelings about the new year.

On one hand, I’m glad to see 2025 come to a close. It held a lot of anxiety for me, I wasn’t nearly as productive as I wanted to be, and the last month a half brought unwanted and scary changes to life because of my husband’s recent health challenges.

On the other hand, I’m not exactly looking forward to 2026 because I don’t have much optimism that it will be a better year. Actually, I’m afraid it will be even worse.

And this is where I stopped back in January, and now I’m here in February to finish the post. When I wrote the opening paragraphs, we had been dealing since mid-November with my husband’s heart tests and his stroke and the changes to our lives. The past few weeks have brought more challenges, including a pacemaker for my husband and seemingly ever-increasing anxiety for me.

Since mid-November, it’s been an intense time. Overwhelm, fear, anxiety, stress, grief, changes in routine, doctor visits, tests, procedures, adaptations, the busy-ness of countless phone calls and forms for doctor/health/medical/insurance stuff.

I’ve been doing the stress-reducing things that usually help. Prayer and spending time with Jesus, breathing techniques, brain retraining and neural rewiring exercises, meditation, music, talks with friends, reading cozy fiction, tapping, painting, watching comfort TV, and more.

I haven’t done all of these as consistently as I could have (even my usual-daily painting got skipped at times) because, to be honest, sometimes simply existing and getting through the day took all my energy when the fear and anxiety consumed all my energy. And even though I have taken a few walks and had some porch-sittin’ time, the weather definitely limited how often I ventured out in the cold.

And as for writing? I’ve barely done any. I worked on fiction exactly twice this past month, and today is the first day I’ve tried to write here on the blog. I simply haven’t been able to get beyond the anxiety and fear and overwhelm enough to focus my mind to put words on paper or screen. Writing means being in my head in a way painting does not – and I think that’s at least one reason I can paint (usually) even when I’m highly anxious, but it’s so hard for me to write when in that state.

When I first started writing this post in early January, I had intended to set a new writing goal for myself. A simple goal, one that felt easy and doable even with all of the difficult and scary life-stuff happening in our home since mid-November.

Just write for one minute every day.

That’s it. That was the goal I planned to set for my writing as the new year started. One minute, but daily. I thought it would help me get back into some sort of consistent groove without feeling overwhelming.

But I wasn’t able to do even one minute a day these past weeks.

So I’m not going to give myself that goal after all. I’m not going to give myself any writing goal right now except for this one:

I’m going to stay connected to my identity as a writer.

What that looks like will be different on different days. Some days I’ll write, even if it’s only for one minute or one sentence. Some days I’ll read something from a writing-related book to get some inspiration and remind me of my writing life. Some days I might simply look at this caricature of myself from ChatGPT.

It’s important to me to stay connected with my writing. But I’m not sure how much I can actually write during this time, and I’m not going to force myself. When I can get over the hump of getting started even when I’m feeling scared and anxious, writing is wonderfully nourishing for me. Writing helps me. Writing connects me to my core self.

So I’m going to do my best to deal with the stress and anxiety and overwhelm enough to write at least somewhat regularly, even for brief bits. But if I can’t, I’m not going to beat myself up about it.

There are more tests, more doctor visits, more of who-knows-what ahead in my husband’s health journey. Our life is different now than it was before mid-November, and more changes will come. All of this is hugely triggering for my severe anxiety. And all of this is hard for both of us.

I’m doing the best I can to handle all the things I need to handle, even though it feels like I fall short so much of the time. I’m doing the best I can to help my husband. I’m doing the best I can to deal with the stress and anxiety and overwhelm.

And I’m also trying to do my best at giving myself grace.

Including when it comes to my writing.

❤

a basic writing prompt…

There are gobs of writing prompts out there.

To be honest, I don’t use writing prompts on a regular basis – and sometimes I don’t even think to turn to them. But there have been times during my writing life when prompts have been a big help. And there’s a special place in my heart for them because back in the very early 90s, when I had my first short story sale (to a children’s magazine – I was so excited to sell a story!!) that story I wrote came into being because of a writing prompt I found and followed in one of the many writing-related books I read.

Even though I’m not a big writing-prompt-user, there’s one prompt in particular that I turn to when I’m feeling blocked. It can help when I’m feeling stuck about what overall writing project to work on, and it can help when I’m feeling stuck about an individual scene.

It’s a very basic question – but it requires me to pay attention and listen to what comes to me.

The question is: What do I want to write?

It might seem like this is a useless prompt. After all, if I knew what to write, if I knew what I wanted to write, why would I even need a prompt to begin with?

But actually asking myself the question – putting it into words for myself and then paying attention to what immediately comes to my mind – can help me gain clarity and direction.

Not overthinking it. Not tensing up or putting up walls.

Just taking a breath and asking the question and then listening. Paying attention to the first answer that comes. Sometimes the first answer isn’t the answer, but often it is – or can lead to finding the ultimate answer.

This is an intuitive approach. But when I can get out of my own way, it can work.

Asking. Listening. Paying attention.

And then writing.

What do you want to write?

What do you WANT to write?

❤

writing on the journey…

When I made the move from a different site to this blog several years ago, I knew I wanted a phrase or tagline that tried to capture a sort of overall theme of what I share here. After playing with a couple of ideas, I settled on writing on the journey.

The phrase continues to be one that reflects what I do.

The dictionary gives the definition of journey as “the act of traveling from one place to another.” And whether I’m writing a blog post, a journal entry, or even including a word or phrase on one of my paintings or art journaling pages, I am writing about the journey through this life. I’m writing about the challenges and the joys. I’m writing about the things that help me along the way and, I hope, offering some encouragement for others.

There has also been another aspect to this phrase for me, though.

It’s also about the writing journey.

I believe connecting to your creativity is an incredibly important aspect of life – and there are many, many ways to express your creativity.

Painting and writing are my main creative outlets, and I share about those most often. Those are the creative activities that light me up the most and make me feel more me. A day doesn’t seem complete unless I’ve held a brush in my hand and moved paint around a canvas or page for at least a few strokes. I’ve talked often about how painting calms me even when nothing else helps.

But as much as I love painting, it was writing that was my first love and it’s writing that’s been a through-line of my life. I didn’t even allow myself to try to paint until far (far!) into adulthood, but writing was with me as soon as I could hold a fat marker to form letters and words.

So…my writing journey is part of what I share here. And that includes sharing things that I hope will be helpful or encouraging for you if you’re on a writing journey of your own.

After all, a writing journey (or any creative journey) is part of the journey of life.

❤