So
many valuable lessons, so much still to learn. I think the biggest lesson I’ve
learned since beginning to write is to believe in myself enough to send a story
out. And if it comes back, to brush it off, and send it out again. And again,
and—yes—even again.
Many
times, writers are a fragile creature. I know I am. We try so hard to believe
in ourselves, in our stories, in our writing. And in my case, I’m crushed again
and again. To be able to pick yourself up and continue to believe is a power
all writers have. It’s just difficult to find sometimes.
Where
can we find this inner strength to continue calling ourselves writers, to
actually be writers? Here are a few tips that help me.
Safety in numbers. Writing groups help
writers find confidence. I belong to South Jersey Writers Group, a friendly
group of writers in many genres who support one another, critique one another’s
work, and offer presentations about writing, publishing, social media, and
other tools of the trade.
Writers helping writers. When writers
learn something new, they don’t keep it to themselves. The very nature of the
writing beast is to share what they’ve learned with others in their number. I
do this through South Jersey Writers Group and reading other Insecure Writers
Support Group blogs and sharing information on my Adventures in Writing blog
and through workshops I present.
Here
are a few excellent writers and bloggers that I have come across: Jennie Nash, Lisa Cron, Writers in the Storm, The Editor’s Blog. You might like to follow them as well.
Finding a quiet space to think. We are
a multi-tasking society, and writers are no different. I believe writers need a
peaceful place to leave the world and all their obligations behind in order to look
within and consider what’s working and what’s not in their writing in progress.
Some writers attend writing conferences, which not only allow for the first two
points in my post, but also some time for uninterrupted thinking and writing. I
realize they are expensive and some writers don’t have the money or time to go
away to write.
I find thinking time in chunks, a few hours lost among the
stacks in a library—away from the five children and home obligations. But I
also find quiet in a walk through the woods or around a local lake. Sometimes
just a walk in my neighborhood gets me away from the computer screen and into
my thoughts about story flow, pacing, and logic. Writers can’t be afraid to look
within to find answers; both for their writing and in life.
If writers are lucky enough to share these three key pieces
of the writerly life, then they can find the courage to let go and send their
stories and essays out into the world time and again, whether through
traditional publishing or self-publishing. No. It’s still not easy. But it can
be done.
I wish you all a solid belief in what you are doing in your
writing life. Thanks for stopping by Adventures in Writing and sharing any thoughts
you might have about this or about writing. Writers sharing with other writers.
It’s what the writing life’s about.
This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s SupportGroup. We post on the first Wednesday of every
month. To join us, or learn more about
the group, click HERE.
