This is my fourth monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post. The IWSG is hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the IWSG is:
"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!"
Procrastination. It is the bane of my writing life. And it's entirely my fault that it is. I think fear plays a little bit into the reasons for why I procrastinate - fear that I won't be good enough when all is said and done, that my writing will be lacking. But truthfully, I think plain laziness also takes part in why I procrastinate. I love writing, and when I am on a roll, I will write a lot. But once the writing is done, I would much rather start a new writing project than go through the mind-numbingly boring task of editing my story and making it as perfect as is possible.
So, at this rate, I will have about twenty novels written by the end of the year and zero that are worth publishing. Not very good numbers to be looking at.
My husband and I were discussing this fact last night. He asked me, "Where exactly do you want to be five years from now? Do you want to be a published writer? Do you want to be teaching writing? What is it that you want?" To be honest, I want to do both, five years from now. But that means I have to start taking my writing seriously, again. I thought I was taking it seriously when I started writing in earnest a couple of years ago. And I was taking it more seriously. But to be really serious about this as my career, then I need to put forth the effort to make sure that the words I am writing will someday be seen and will be worth being seen. And that means I have to spend time perfecting my words, making the stories I write become more than just interesting; they have to sparkle.
On another topic, there is still time to sign up for the Chapter Book Challenge if you think that spending the month of March writing an early reader, chapter book, middle grade book or YA book might be the thing for you. It's a really informal challenge, but if you sign up for it, you are automatically entered in the Kindle giveaway. And there is a great line up of guest posts from published authors and agents and many prizes being given away throughout the month. There are just two days left to comment on the guest post from Angela Ackerman in order to be entered to win a copy of her co-authored book "The Emotion Thesaurus" (as long as you are also signed up for the challenge). You can also get some great ChaBooCha web badges for your blog or website. There's a ChaBooCha Facebook page, a ChaBooCha Facebook group and a ChaBooCha Twitter page, and we post about the challenge using the hashtag #ChaBooCha. We have over 80 people signed up for the challenge so far.
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