Stress is a serious thing. Deadlines and worries, internal standards of perfection and flouted ambition, meetings and gatherings, doings and workings–all of it is really too much for the soul, never mind what it does to the constitution of a creative writer.

For writing types and artists, the only way to handle stress is by working. The lucky thing is that we have a routine that ought to be part of our process no matter what kind of artist we are and that is the draft or sketch. Nothing is right or wrong with a draft. A sketch should never be late or soon. These are preliminary endeavors. They happen outside of the busy realm of deadlines, competition, standards, and harried doing.

It’s actually rather funny when you think about it. In self-help books by leading psychologists, one of the main pieces of advice for people suffering from stress and…