All too often in our modern day and age, we attempt to cure every ailment with a pill or capsule. That might be fine for our physical aches and for the most serious of mental illnesses, but it’s not so wonderful for the moments when we just feel down or stressed out.

Writers, though, know that for those pains a different kind of tablet than the one you pick up from the pharmacist is best for the soul.

Writing itself is a healing activity.

It allows you to detach. When the problems of the world or the heart threaten to crush you, sometimes you simply must toss off the burden. Writing allows you to let go by entering a new world, one in which the ex’s latest nasty words or the boss taking credit for the work you did all disappears. They pale to your main character struggling to solve a murder or to you telling the world about the one thing you feel so passionate about.

It allows you to rebuild your self-esteem. Writing is among your many strengths and talents. Being productive at something you enjoy and are good at is like salve on those deep cuts to your ego. Rather than feel defeated when you were passed over for a promotion at work or when your mother lays into you again about still not being married, get up and hit the punching bags with your creativity.

It allows you to have hope. In the world of your novel, you can entertain readers and ensure right wins in the end; through the pages of your nonfiction book, you can give people the knowledge they need to change their worlds for the better. That ability to help others while furthering your own future in turn will inspire you to greater heights.

So here’s the editor’s prescription, writer: 1000 words daily until next checkup.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 300 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.