#IWSG: And Then There Was One

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officiallyInsecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time. Be sure to link to this page and display the badge in your post.

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Our Twitter hashtag is #IWSG

The awesome co-hosts for the April 6 posting of the IWSG will be Megan Morgan, Chris Votey, Viola Fury,Christine Rains, Madeline Mora-Summonte, L.G. Keltner,Rachna Chhabria, and Patricia Lynne! 

I write quite a few reviews, and edit other people’s manuscripts every single week, but there are only a few blogs that I write just because I want to with any regularity. Yes, I can see your eyes rolling, those that wonder what I dare define as regular. Hey, just remember that everyone has problems you know nothing about.

Two groups I try to push myself to blog in are groups in which writers must post excerpts of their WIP. Why? To force me to create an excerpt so that I work on my WIP instead of someone else’s. And I swear I wonder sometimes why I bother posting in one of them because all they seem to care about is how many sentences you write, not what you write. And all I care about is that I DID write. I regress.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to read other author’s works. Isn’t that what they say all great writers must do? Read. Read. Read. Of course, but at what point does it become an excuse to avoid facing critique on one’s own work? Or perhaps even the lack of critique?

Since moving across the country, one of the things I miss most is the fun, eclectic group of 8 POTL women who made up my critique group. We used to meet once a month for plot brainstorming, critiquing, laughing and whatever else was happening, be it book signings, guild meetings, wine tasting tours, or tarot card reading character development sessions--or just life, such as personal events or problems that came up. Oh, how I miss that food for the writer’s soul.

It’s been so long since I wrote anything substantive that my writing “buddies” don’t even know I’m writing again, and don’t even know to “follow” my writing fb pages or blogs or comment on them, or…sigh. Who can blame them? I have no one to blame but myself. The writer in me has forgotten to send out invites to my friends letting them know the right side of my brain is alive and well, though it may be living in AZ rather than MI.
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My writing has suffered for many reasons since I moved here, but I have not finished a novel since I arrived, and I can’t help but admit the lack of writing comradery is probably a major reason. So today I  sliced a juicy organic tomato, some smoky gouda cheese, and layered them on thin slices of feta/spinach/onion bread from Beyond Bread, opened a bottle of my favorite Late Harvest Riesling and wrote an entire chapter in my WIP—and all that before I painted a modern abstract acrylic on canvas “Sunflowers Swim in Lilacs”. How’s that for right-brain regeneration?