The Diet of a Writer: What Feeds Us – Part III by Susan Tuttle

We’ve talked about what we eat, and we’ve talked about ways to grow our craft. Today we’re going to talk about how we feed our souls and minds with two great ways to recharge. Because if we’re going to be putting out stories, we need to be filled up ourselves. How do we do that?

Susan Tuttle

First we spend time with friends. Other writer friends are wonderful because they understand that we talk to imaginary people or that we can spend hours staring off into space—and it’s actually productive.🙂 These are the people who can make us feel normal. But it’s the friendships outside of our writing world that can truly recharge us. Those friends we’ve had since before our writing days who don’t think we’re crazy when we exhibit crazy writer traits. The ones who pick us up in their Jeep and bring us for shakes and fries, go shopping for nothing, pull out our laughter, or just sit side-by-side in silence. These are the moments we need to re-enter the real world and recharge our batteries.

We also need to read. Read. Read. Read. See what is happening within the genre we write. Read outside of that niche too. Push our vocabulary. Find new sentence structure. See new plot devices. When I was six years old I won my first writing contest and was invited to meet an elderly author. He signed a book for me, looked me in the eye, and said, “Great readers make the best writers. Keep reading.” It’s advice I still take to heart.

What are ways you like to recharge between writing ventures? I’d love to hear!
Be sure to check out Part II and Part I of the series, too!

Susan L. Tuttle lives in Michigan where she’s happily married to her best friend and is a homeschooling mom of three. She’s firmly convinced that letters were meant for words, not math, and loves stringing them together into stories that inspire, encourage, and grow women into who God created them to be. Romance, laughter, and cookies are three of her favorite things, though not always in that order. You can connect with Susan at her blog,