Wednesday, August 5, 2015

The dreaded writer's guilt (IWSG)


I read an interesting post/article by Colleen M. Story about writer's guilt recently and I truly connected with a lot she had to say. Especially the points she made about I don’t have enough to show for all the time I’ve spent and I don't write enough.

I often feel guilty for spending so much time and attention on my writing. Let's face it, when you've spent six years writing in every spare moment you have, most people want to know what you've written and whether you're successful and rich . . . yet. I tend not to care anymore. But then there's the other scenario. We tend to compare ourselves to other writers and their efforts and then the real guilt trip starts. We can be hard on ourselves and even mean. We start chastising ourselves. Asking questions like, why haven't I reached the success of writer/ blogger X? Why does X have all the luck? Why can't I be more like X? How does X fit in so much writing time and I can't?

The truth is, like I recently discovered, there's nothing wrong with me (my family might disagree), or you. We are all different and the same goes for our writing and the ways we create our art. Our processes differ and some of us might achieve success (insert your own personal concept of it here) sooner than the rest, but that's just how it goes. We have to stop feeling guilty because we don't measure up to other people's standards, when all we have to do is measure up to our own.

Let's not feel guilty because we write, or because we should be doing a hundred other things, aside for writing. Each of us brings something unique to the writing table and we should embrace that.

The Insecure Writers Support Group was created by the talented Mr. Alex J. Cavanaugh so that writers can share their insecurities and/or encourage others who need support with their own. You can visit Alex Here, or if you want to join us in discussing our insecurities on the first Wednesday of each month, you are welcome to join by going Here.

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