Any kind of creative activity is likely to be stressful. The more anxiety, the more you feel that you are headed in the right direction. Easiness, relaxation, comfort - these are not conditions that usually accompany serious work.
I'm drawn to failure. I feel like I'm contending with it constantly in my own life.
A daydreamer is prepared for most things.
I think it's very important for writers and artists generally to be witnesses to the world, and to be transparent. To let other people speak... to travel... to experience the world. And memorialize it.
I would suggest the widow do things the husband used to do, so he seems to be there with you. You will feel like just going to bed. It's so wonderful, going to bed.
I should say, one of the things about being a widow or a widower, you really, really need a sense of humor, because everything's going to fall apart.