July 1, 2015
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group
I must confess the Insecure Writer's Support Group has had me perplexed for a while.
Author Melissa Bradley mentioned this on her blog several years ago and I’ve
lurked around the edges and read the IWSG posts from time-to-time. I finally
decided to hop on the train, at least for the remainder of 2015, and see if I
have any pearls of wisdom for other writers.
Insecurity is not unique to writers. We all own our fair
share whether we like it or not. Personally, I get annoyed with myself when I
feel insecure for no good reason. I’ve lived long enough to know there will
always, and I mean ALWAYS, be someone smarter, prettier, wittier, thinner, more
talented, richer and more successful than me.
There will always be those less successful, less talented,
chubbier, uglier, dumber, poorer and who are severely lacking of a sense of
humor, too. And no, I don’t get cocky over that fact and use it to pump myself
up. That would be tacky.
I think it’s important for every writer to remember what it
was that called them to write. That “something” that continues to call them to
write even when discouraged or insecure. An old adage states you should write
for yourself first because you’re your first reader. I can’t begin tell you how
true that is.
The best stories I’ve written were for me and not for a
deadline or in hopes of a decent review. In fact, I think most of those stories
written to a deadline didn’t turn out all that well, but that’s fodder for
another blog.
So here’s my pearl of wisdom for my first IWSG post: Write
to please yourself.
Write the story you want to write and don’t worry about
anything else until you’ve told it just the way you want to tell it. All the
other stuff - proofreading, editing, publishing - it all comes after you write
the story, so do the first thing first and do it just for you.
KC Kendricks
http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks
To the writers of the IWSG - network with me on Twitter at @kckendricks.
