Why am I an Insecure Writer this month?
The answer is: I'm not.
It's not that I don't have writing insecurities lurking in the back of my mind, but who cares, it's January. And along with the new year comes the completely unjustified euphoria that promises all my writing dreams will come true. There's nothing quite like naive optimism to banish those nasty insecurities. At least for a month. I'll probably be moaning in February, but I'll worry about that later.
Isn't being a writer great?
Seriously, part of my good cheer stems from the fact that I made lots of progress on the writing front over the holidays. We'll see if I can keep the momentum going throughout 2018.
Let's move on to this month's IWSG question:
What steps have you taken or plan to take to put a schedule in place for your writing and publishing?
I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I don’t have any sort of plan to schedule my writing activities and I don’t expect to have one for the rest of 2018.
It's not that I don’t want to succeed, but scheduling has never been my strong point, whether we're talking writing related projects or not. Back in college I learned how to juggle classes freestyle, working on whichever class my intuition told me focus on. A rather chaotic technique to be sure, but it served me well and it's a habit I still follow to this day. And even if I was the scheduling type, there's way too many things going on in my life for me to plan when I'm going to write. I write whenever I can find a few minutes to spare.
Marketing is probably one of those areas where scheduling is important, but as I don't have a book out yet, the point is moot.
With that said, I admit that social media is one area where I should be scheduling. My social media forays are chaotic at best, and as a writer, that's something I need to fix. Hopefully I'll get the hang of social media before my first book is published.
I hope you all have a great new year!
ChemistKen
It's not that I don’t want to succeed, but scheduling has never been my strong point, whether we're talking writing related projects or not. Back in college I learned how to juggle classes freestyle, working on whichever class my intuition told me focus on. A rather chaotic technique to be sure, but it served me well and it's a habit I still follow to this day. And even if I was the scheduling type, there's way too many things going on in my life for me to plan when I'm going to write. I write whenever I can find a few minutes to spare.
Marketing is probably one of those areas where scheduling is important, but as I don't have a book out yet, the point is moot.
With that said, I admit that social media is one area where I should be scheduling. My social media forays are chaotic at best, and as a writer, that's something I need to fix. Hopefully I'll get the hang of social media before my first book is published.
I hope you all have a great new year!
ChemistKen
Hooray for writing progress!
ReplyDeleteI've never been able to schedule my writing. It happens when it happens, pretty much.
Good luck in the new year! Hopefully that optimism sticks around.
My writing progress over the holidays is usually less than I'd like, but this time I was satisfied with it. Happy new year to you too.
DeleteGlad you made progress over the holidays. Me too. And I'm exactly like you about scheduling writing and even the social media. Except for my blog, I'm terrible about being Facebook and Twitter. I need to be more regular. But I have a lot going on like you. I'm going to be positive like you are. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteStaying positive is the key, as is pushing yourself to write so that you have a reason to feel positive in the first place.
DeleteLucky you, getting writing done during the Holidays! If only that could have been possible for me. Even today my brain is mush, as I just saw my brother and his family leave for home after visiting for the weekend. I just don't get any sleep when we have visitors, so writing is not even possible.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Ken!
We didn't have any visitors this holiday season (thank goodness, the house was a mess) and only visited one family member. That left plenty of time for writing.
DeleteIf you don't get the hang of it, you'll learn as you go. I did!
ReplyDeleteKeep on writing.
Sometimes, flying by the seat of our pants works well in more areas than just writing. I seem to recall you're a pantser. Maybe it's more than just what you're writing and how you're writing too!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy January and leave February for Future-Ken to deal with. Who knows maybe he'll roll with it. hehehe
ReplyDeleteAnd... and... being a writer is great!
Anna from elements of emaginette
Love your optimism and good thoughts. Yes, you can carry that all the way through 2018!! Go for it!
ReplyDeleteJQ Rose
I'm with you! Scheduling tends to be either impossible or incredibly difficult. I'd rather just go with the flow and write like a crazy person when I can :)
ReplyDeleteWishing you all the best for 2018!!
Let's hope you can keep your optimism farther into the year. Here's to a whole 12 months of success.
ReplyDeleteSame here. I don't schedule things, I just let them happen. Optimism is great! Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteIWSG post: Taking Chances
Who cares? It's January." That is a great mindset to have. It's the start of a New Year with endless possibilities. We shouldn't be insecure right now, but filled with excitement.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year and congratulations on making good progress over the holidays, ChemistKen! I am quite scheduled in my day job so I like my writing life to be more fluid. Glad you're feeling upbeat this January.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! Social media is great for making connections, not as much for selling books, but it is nice to have a better handle on it. I, so far, do not. Heh.
ReplyDeleteI love hearing someone got a lot done over the holidays. You are my hero. Me, I tried. I'll give myself that.
ReplyDeleteHope you can keep on the roll you got on during the holidays! I need to get a better grip on social media, too.
ReplyDeleteWishing you the best and much success filled with joy in 2018 and much writing. Juneta @ Writer's Gambit
ReplyDeleteI have schedules for my schedules. LOL! But if it works, don't fix it. You have your own groove.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
ReplyDeleteI'm a list maker from way back. I love checking off my to do's! I love setting goals, and I love achieving them. It's not always in the time line I set, but I make the best of it and get there eventually!
Good luck and keep plugging away. You'll get there!
I'm actually a pretty good scheduler, and perhaps that's why I'm rebelling against it at the moment. I want to be free! :)
ReplyDeleteYou are so right. I always start off in January so optimistic about my writing. Let's both keep it going this year.
ReplyDeleteYay to lots of progress. And you don't need to schedule if it's working for you.
ReplyDeleteHappy 2018
We should stick to whatever works for us. Even I'm not good in sticking to schedules. Hope 2018 is very productive for you where writing is concerned.
ReplyDeleteRachna Chhabria
Co-host IWSG
Rachna's Scriptorium
Once you get the hang of social media can you let me know how it works? :-) All the best for the coming year - Ellen
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I'm not the best at scheduling my writing time, but doing things completely freestyle... that would really intimidate me. But we each have to figure out what works and what doesn't work for ourselves. At least you're doing what works for you!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Ken! I trust my intuition a lot. When I was teaching, it always helped me pick the loudest screaming priority. I was rarely wrong. Plans haven't served me well ~ they're just temptations for the universe to thwart. Juggling freestyle ~ That image works for me! All the best with your writing this year!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! Enjoyed your post! It was late Wed. afternoon when finished my IWSG Post and I'm just now getting around to reading other's posts. I'm right there with you on the social media thing! I do set goals but I don't set them based on what some calendar says. I got a lot of writing done over the holidays---just not on my novel. I took a break and wrote some fun short, short fiction. There are three rules to writing: Only no one knows what they are. LOL. Great Post!
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way for my IWSG post. It was a new year and I didn't want to start off with an insecurity, so I went for a positive spin and encouraged everyone.
ReplyDeleteHappy new year! I started the year off reading Lisa Cron's books on writing, and they've really lit a fire in me. I hope that bodes well for the year. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteYou made me laugh with "Who cares?" So true! If we can't feel optimistic in January when can we? Happy 2018 to you, Ken!
ReplyDelete