Insecure Writer's Support Group - June 2012

The Insecure Writer's Support Group is the brilliant idea of Alex J. Cavanaugh. He's an inspiration to us all with his awesome blog posts and words of encouragement. Please take some time to visit some of the other bloggers participating in the IWSG. Every supportive word means a lot.

I feel a little nervous and timid popping in a day late with this. Yet I've wanted to do a post for the IWSG for a while now, and I've always used the excuse that my Wednesdays are taken up by my Wicked Wednesday posts. It's an excuse, not a valid reason.

I do that with my writing too. I find excuses not to do certain things. Like I don't finish revising something because I don't think I could find a publisher for it with the story's weirdness. Or I retire a novel because it was rejected too many times. I tell myself it's best to work on something else instead. I have several novels written, but most of them are just sitting there collecting dust. I'm old, especially for authors in my genre, and there's so much age-ism out there.

All those are excuses and they're holding me back. The real reason why I hide behind excuses: I don't think I'll ever be good enough. I know that if I work hard, revise and edit, polish up my stories, I can leave those excuses behind. It's a lot harder to actually get over that hump than it is to say it.

I'm starting small. I'm self-publishing this year. I'm giddy and scared about it. But it's a step in the right direction. I think... I hope. Right?