Pressure
Writing under pressure is hard. Writing while trying to survive is even harder.
Don’t Supplant Maslow
Too many writers try to leap straight to self-actualization without building the lower levels first.
You can’t skip the basics. Abraham Maslow had it right. Before you worry about artistic fulfillment, legacy, or becoming a bestselling author, you need food, shelter, warmth, safety, and stability. Physiological needs come first. Then security. Then belonging. Only after those are reasonably solid can you comfortably climb toward self-esteem and self-actualization.
A lot of writers reverse the order. They chase praise, validation, and social media approval while the rest of their life is on fire. That pressure crushes creativity faster than almost anything else.
The Pressure is to Live
Sometimes the biggest pressure isn’t writing the book. It’s surviving long enough to write the next one.
You still have to buy groceries. Pay the mortgage. Keep the lights on. That’s reality. People love romantic stories about the starving artist who writes a masterpiece while living in chaos, but those stories are rare because that level of pressure is brutal. Most people do better creative work when they aren’t constantly worried about whether they can afford dinner.
That’s why I tell people not to be ashamed of the day job. Stability is not failure. Stability is support.
In the Presence of Others
Safety and belonging matter more than most writers admit.
People often mistake external praise for genuine connection. A viral post, good reviews, or social media attention can feel like love and belonging, but those things are temporary. If your foundation underneath them is weak, the pressure eventually catches up with you.
You need real support systems. Real people. Real security. Otherwise, you spend all your creative energy chasing reassurance instead of building a sustainable career and life.
To Realize Your Own Self
Self-actualization sounds wonderful. Sitting at the top of the mountain like Buddha, perfectly content with your art and your place in the universe.
But you don’t get there by pretending the lower levels don’t matter. You reach that point when you become comfortable with your work, your process, and yourself. When the writing itself fulfills something deep inside you. That’s hard to achieve if every month feels like financial freefall.
I didn’t even start writing seriously until I was fifty-two years old. By then, I had a solid foundation. I had security. I had stability. That removed a huge amount of pressure and let me focus on writing better books instead of trying to survive solely through them.
Maintain a Solid Foundation
A strong foundation carries more weight than motivation alone ever will.
A lot of younger authors put enormous pressure on themselves because they think one great book has to solve every problem in their lives. Sometimes it does. Most times it doesn’t. More often, success comes from building steadily and giving yourself enough stability to keep creating long-term.
That foundation might mean keeping the day job a little longer. Taking the promotion. Creating more breathing room in your finances and personal life. Those things are not distractions from writing. They are supports for writing.
Let That Carry Some of the Load
When your foundation is stable, the pressure changes.
Instead of desperation, you can focus on craft. Instead of panicking, you can focus on improving. Some writers finally break through after they stop trying to force the dream overnight. They stabilize the lower levels of life first, and suddenly the writing improves because they can finally breathe.
Pressure never disappears completely. But a strong foundation helps carry some of the weight, so you don’t have to carry it all alone.
Final Thought
Writing under pressure is hard. Writing while trying to survive is even harder.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting self-actualization through storytelling, but you have to build upward, not backward. Secure the basics. Create stability. Build your life strong enough that your creativity has room to grow instead of constantly fighting for air.
Patience matters. Foundations matter. And sometimes the strongest thing a writer can do is stabilize their life before asking their art to carry all the weight.
Pressure — Original Medium Article
Pressure — Over 1000 Five Minute Focus videos on the Successful Indie Author YouTube Channel
Successful Indie Author articles are created from reworking the original Five Minute Focus video transcripts obtained through HappyScribe. The final drafts are edited in Prowritingaid.
Author Sprints for Maximum Productivity — Sprint Your Way to Becoming a Successful Indie Author
SIA Writing Challenge website — Record Your Progress on Your Way to Becoming a Successful Indie Author
Craig Martelle is an author, leader, and entrepreneur living in Alaska. Retired from the Marine Corps military intelligence community and physical security, he graduated summa cum laude from law school and went into business consulting. From intelligence, to the inner workings of company boardrooms, to on-the-ground leadership, Craig has seen it firsthand.
He is a million-selling author of over 200 science fiction (post-apocalyptic, military sci-fi, and space opera), thrillers, and the non-fiction series, Successful Indie Author. Craig has been running author conferences since 2017, and also the Successful Indie Author Facebook Group, and the Successful Indie Author YouTube Channel.
Leadership is a service, not a crown to lord over others.