Wednesday 2 March 2016

Insecure Writers Support Group: Life Happens

It's time again for the Insecure Writers Support Group, where we vent our insecurities to the world!

Most of our insecurities have to do with not hitting our goals or, for the newbies among us, not even trying. I'm well past the "not trying hard enough" phase all writers start with, but I still regularly miss goals. Far too often, as I talked about last time, the need to do paying projects gets in the way of my fiction, which only pays once I get it out into the world. I'm willing to wait to see my money later, but try telling that to the supermarket!

Sometimes, though, life just gets in the way. I'm writing this while recovering from the flu. Needless to say, my wordcount hasn't been very good the past couple of days. This isn't helped by some paying projects I need to finish. Ah yes, the fiction always seems to be the thing that gets stuck on the back burner!

But we shouldn't be too hard on ourselves. Life happens. Sometimes you just can't get everything you want to do done. Real writers, the people who are in for the long haul, will bounce back from this. I've had to do this several times. As long as my word count next week is good, I won't bang my head against the wall for missing the mark this week.

Something to remember the next time life gets in the way.

4 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You've been doing it for too long to let it stop you now. Hope you feel better soon and are full steam ahead once more.

Beverly Stowe McClure said...

Hi Sean. I came over from the IWSG. Yes, life happens and we have to deal with it. Sorry you've been sick. Hope you're all better now. One of my problems is I set too many goals. Must be more careful about that. Have a great day.

Mary Aalgaard said...

You can't do much when you're sick. Glad you're recovering. The fiction does get put on the back burner, but it is not forgotten. You'll get back to it when you can.
Mary at Play off the Page

IWSG co-host

Stephsco said...

Sometimes you've got to spend time on the couch and just get through the day. I hope you feel better!

Here's my IWSG March post: How to Succeed at Twitter Without Really Trying

Looking for more from Sean McLachlan? He also hangs out on the Civil War Horror blog, where he focuses on Civil War and Wild West history.

You can also find him on his Twitter feed and Facebook page.