Writer's Bookshelf: The Happy Writer, by Marissa Meyer

The latest entry in our series about books we recommend for writers.

Oftentimes, the Lord puts the book we need in our hands, even if we don’t know that we need it.

Several (and I do mean *several*) weeks ago, Cheryl and I discussed my October writing book review and she suggested Marissa Meyer’s The Happy Writer. I was not familiar with Marissa’s work, but perused this one briefly and agreed that it looked like a great option.

(A brief aside, for those of you I haven’t yet been blessed to meet: I live with several chronic illnesses and write about their effect on every aspect of my life, both on my blog and in my devotional writing.)

Little did I know that October would be an incredibly tumultuous month in terms of my health - as evidenced by the fact that October’s book review is arriving at the beginning of December - and I would need so much of the advice and encouragement found in The Happy Writer myself. God has a funny way of working those things out sometimes. . .

Marissa Meyer came to this project as an author of 17 published works, some New Times bestsellers. At the time she was inspired to write it, she had been overwhelmed by a missed deadline (the worst, we all know), and, when she finally felt the sweet relief of sending off her draft and went to enjoy family time with her then two year old daughter, her baby said, “Mommy is so happy now!”

This brought to her attention how deeply her stress and anxiety were affecting her home life and she began seeking a lighter way of creating; she knew that it should be a life-affirming process, not a detrimental one. As she found balance and collected ideas for joyful writing, she began her “The Happy Writer” podcast during Covid to discuss issues related to writing and creativity. From there, The Happy Writer book came to be. (She recently ended her podcast, but it’s worth going back and listening to some of its 225 episodes. You really can hear Marissa’s voice and positivity come through.)