Do you ever have those times when you are bored with yourself? I had one of those mornings as I struggled (and failed) to come up with meaningful, eloquent prose to share. I have plenty to say, but my words came out plain vanilla instead of Rocky Road.
This happens from time to time. I’m in the midst of some deep structural revisions to my novel, and am adjusting my approach as I study my craft. It’s like rewiring the brain, and right now I feel like I did in junior high when the girls’ clothes no longer fit, but the women’s clothes didn’t work, either.
I was so depressed I set aside my blog. Instead, I decided to shop for bedspreads online. Why bedspreads? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I had a deep-seated urge to crawl under the covers and hide. In a few days, as my purchases arrive, we will know how much folly I have wrought with my purchases.
There is hope, however.
First, a small group of us on Goodreads plans to do an informal NaNoWriMo in February. Since this isn’t a formal, sanctioned NaNoWriMo event, writers can choose to work on either new or existing material. This has provided me enough psychic juice to get back to work on my novel without waiting until February.
Then, I learned about The Insecure Writer’s Support Group. Insecure? Me? Yes! And I’m not alone! *happy dance* We’re doing a blog hop in April. Since I’ve wanted to perk up my blog, this is a good way to kick into gear.
Yes, I know. Blog hops mean reading lots of blogs as well as writing them, and that’s a time challenge. However, I can prepare blogs in advance of the hop, and now that I’m breaking the Facebook habit…
Finding the ISWG felt like receiving a Message from God. Or am I a Mission from God? Let’s take a moment to pay homage to the Blues Brothers, shall we?
The ISWG is organizing a blog hop for April, so if you’re an Insecure Writer like me who’s looking to re-energize, take a look and see if it looks like fun for you.
Already I am feeling better. Just knowing there’s a group for Insecure Writers like me gives me the extra steam to keep going.
Hope to see you there!
Do long-term projects get you down? How do you cope?
Insecure? Me? Of COURSE. 🙂 It does help when you know you’re not the only one struggling. It’s easy to look at other writers and see only their accomplishments that we see, not the struggles behind them.
Right now I’m down because I’m NOT writing as often as I should. I am coming up with ways to deal with that.
I really love that second paragraph…it says it all, doesn’t it? Whatever ails us, writing is the cure. Like you, I struggle a lot to make sure I’m writing as much as I need to. Whether or not I ever find an audience, I need to write for my own health.