How to Write a Book and Remain Mentally Stable.

I wish I could tell you how to remain mentally stable when writing a book, but I can’t. My wife can attest to my failure to stay mentally stable. She is my writing partner. I depend on her to critique everything I write—every word—and she is faithful to do so, spending hours going through hundreds of pages of printed words, chapter after chapter, draft after draft. She shows her love by going through all this in step with me. But during the latter stages of writing, she is also a long-suffering wife who can vouch for the high degree of my mental instability. She endured my despair, being out of sorts, preoccupation, and forgetfulness.

This week I completed the last edits, signed all the legal affidavits, filled in multiple forms and uploaded the book we have been writing the last couple of years to the publisher. I suddenly felt a huge sense of relief, not just a sense of quiet satisfaction that followed the successful publishing of my other books.

Of my earlier books, the first three were published by Wycliffe, five were self-published, and this ninth book, From Adventure to Spiritual Warfare, will be professionally published. It covers the decades our family lived in Brazil where we focused on translating a large part of the Bible into the Canela language.

This week, I felt a kinship with what Winston Churchill said about writing a book:
“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.”

It’s true, especially in the last months of writing, editing, and refining, that the drive to “get it done” was so strong that I could no longer fall asleep for my after-lunch nap. When I woke up during the night, even after only five hours of sleep, my mind was instantly filled with concerns and plans for what to do next in the book.

These concerns were not new ideas. I had already clearly planned them out, written up the plans and made a chart to keep track of progress. It was just crazy, mentally unstable worries about this project.

I didn’t just count sheep; I talked to my Shepherd, asking Him to give me, His beloved, the sleep I desperately needed. Sometimes, I slept again, but mostly, I staggered out of bed and started writing again.

This memoir covers some of the most stressful years of our lives. Reading my daily diaries of those days, months and years of unending tension and pressure and then writing about them triggered the same negative emotional response.

So, to answer the “How to” question in the title, I suggest you write about pleasant things, lovely surroundings, and deeply satisfying relationships. Avoid traumatic situations, stressful conflicts with others, and ongoing difficulties. Of course, the outcome will be a boring book no one wants to read.
Not at all like the exciting book Jo and I wrote, one with a victorious ending, deep-down personal satisfaction, and the approval of Heaven.