Monday musings by bestselling author
DelSheree Gladden
Writing is an important form a stress relief for me. It produces a tangible product that helps me feel like I’m actually doing something and gives me a chance to quiet the chatter in my head and explore the thoughts and emotions that inspire the chatter.
I started writing as a pre-teen, mostly coming up with rambling stories and vignettes that never really went anywhere. My early writings mimicked favorite authors, but were good learning experiences. I didn’t just learn the mechanics of writing and how to tell an interesting story. Those were important skills, but I also learned that writing provided an outlet for me.
As a kid, I was quiet and often lonely. I wasn’t very good at expressing myself or making friends. Writing let me say all the things I wished I could say to other people, express the difficult thoughts and emotions I was struggling with through characters’ stories, and vent the frustrations and joys I didn’t know how to talk about out loud.
I go through times when I quite literally need to write. When there’s too much going on inside my head or heart, I struggle to communicate it in a constructive way with the people in my life. I get emotional and reactive and end up making a mess of it most of the time. Writing, either as stream of consciousness writing or working on a book, allows me to sort out what exactly it is that’s causing so much strife in my life and figure out a better way to express it. Of course, this isn’t fool proof and I still end up in arguments or crying over stupid things when I get stressed out, but it helps organize the chaos in my mind a little better so it doesn’t happen as often.
Writing is self-care for me, but it also gives me the opportunity to share something of myself with others. Even as an adult, I still have a hard time making new friends and starting up conversations with new people. It’s overwhelming to start fresh when there’s so much backstory to explain! It’s how I often feel when starting a new book and having a handful of characters I’ve thought about and developed or a long list of research I want to shove into the story. Writing fiction has actually taught me how to be a little bit better at sharing the important parts of who I am with new people and letting the little details filter out where they fit best. I’ll never be outgoing or overly social, but I can at least talk to people without being overwhelmed by anxiety most of the time.
Like any creative art, writing is about expression, exploration, and getting to know yourself and the world around you a little better.
DelSheree Gladden
was one of those shy, quiet kids who spent more time reading than talking. Literally. She didn’t speak a single word for the first three months of preschool, but she had already taught herself to read.
Her fascination with reading led to many hours spent in the library and bookstores, and eventually to writing. She wrote her first novel when she was sixteen years old, but spent ten years rewriting and perfecting it before having it published.
Native to New Mexico, DelSheree and her husband spent several years in Colorado for college and work before moving back home to be near family again. Their two children love having their seventeen cousins close by.
When not writing, you can find DelSheree reading, painting, sewing and trying not to get bitten by small children in her work as a dental hygienist.Check out her latest books, get updates and sneak peeks of new projects at
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