Wednesday, September 6, 2017

The Insecure Writer and the Month of September


Today is September's contribution to Alex Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group.

What makes me an Insecure Writer this month?

The fact that it’s September. 

Why would that make me insecure? After all, it’s my second favorite month of the year (after October), and the arrival of autumn usually fires me up to do my best writing. Unfortunately, it’s also the month where I can no longer successfully lie to myself that I’ll be hitting my end of year goals. 

In other words, I’m feeling rather conflicted this week, so let’s move on to this month’s IWSG question:

Have you ever surprised yourself with your writing?

Yes. Pretty much all the time, although probably not in the way you think.

I’m surprised I started writing in the first place, especially since I used to hate writing. 

I’m surprised I’ve kept at it all these years despite my many fits and starts. 

I’m surprised my writing skills are soooooo much better than when I first began this journey. 

I’m surprised there is soooooo much more I still have to learn. 

But best of all, I’m surprised when I look back at an earlier chapter and decide I'm happy with what I wrote. That's real progress, folks!

ChemistKen








29 comments:

  1. Liking what you wrote is a real victory, since generally we are our own worst critics. Hooray for getting there.

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  2. Yes, it is a happy moment to look back and be happy with what we've wrote. I didn't even have a writing goal this year to not meet. Sometimes it's enough to keep writing.

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  3. That is progress all right!
    Like you, I'm just as surprised I started writing.

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  4. Hooray for that progress! And I'm right there with you, the fact that I started writing at all is the biggest surprise for me.

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  5. That is great progress! Autumn is my favorite time of year too. I've noticed that many of my stories take place in this season. I can't help myself!

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  6. Woot for progress! It's nice when you read something you wrote and you like it, huh?

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  7. Congrats on all of it. I couldn't have said it better. :-)

    Anna from elements of emaginette

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  8. As I'm preparing to teach classes in writing and lit this fall, it seriously warms my heart to hear that you used to dislike writing but now you are a writer! That's just wonderful. :) I might tell my students about you - if that's all right. I'm thankful for bloggers like you who inspire me as a writer and a teacher.

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    1. All the blame goes to J.K. Rowling. If it hadn't been so much fun for me to speculate what might have happened in her world after the 7th HP books, I never would have discovered my love of fiction writing.

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  9. We never learn it all. But it's great to know we've learned a lot.

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  10. Laughing out here! Love that you're surprised that you ever started writing. Me too! I has been one surprise after another.

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  11. Sometimes looking back at old stuff can be a great tonic, especially if you remember struggling writing it. Shows that things usually work out in the end.

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  12. I love being pleasantly surprised while re-reading something I've written and thinking, "This is actually pretty good."

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  13. Yep yep and yep. That's exactly how I feel, Ken. Me, a writer? I just checked my KDP account and it says people are still buying my books. OK, still a writer.

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  14. Hi Ken! Did you recently change something (your web address or your gravatar?) because it was hard to find you this month. I had to find you on Twitter and then click through to your website. It has to do with the way your comment shows up on my site. The only way I can link back to you is through your gravatar, but your website isn't linked on it yet. I only say this because I don't want you to miss out on comments from people who can't find you. On the IWSG page, your website is listed as your website title, so I couldn't do a search for "ken" to find you that way either. Great post, by the way. I'm always surprised by my writing as well. :)

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  15. Yay! That's a lot of good things to be happy about! :)
    I love knowing that I've made progress as well - and I'm okay with knowing there's a lot more to learn. It's part of the fun!

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  16. I like those nice surprises when we're actually happy with what we wrote.

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  17. Ouch. You had to remind me about year end goals. I have a slim chance of making 2/3 of mine. Slim.

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  18. Love that. Surprising yourself like that is the best of all. May you continue to grow and surprise yourself always.
    Juneta @ Writer's Gambit

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  19. Awesome on the progress! Woot, woot!

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  20. When I was a kid, I hated reading. Then I pushed myself to read more and the very next year after I started to like to read was when I started seriously writing. Funny how that happens.

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  21. Yep, September marks the beginning of the end - of the year. Well, there's always next year . . .

    I'm surprised I'm still writing too. When I have a "hey, that was good" moment I take a little time to be over-joyed. Somebody has to be happy for me. I have a lot to learn still, but boy have I come a long way from where I began.

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  22. You have lots to be surprised about and be proud of yourself for. Progress! Not having an excuse to not write. Yeah, that's a bummer. Guilt trip! Having an empty house again should make me want to write up a storm. Not so. I'm on that guilt trip, too. You can kick my butt, while I kick yours.

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  23. I feel a lot like how you do. I'm surprised I haven't given up on writing by now after all these years of struggling. If I ever finish a novel-length first draft, I'll be super surprised. If I ever publish anything I wrote, I think I'll blast off into outer space!

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  24. I love that surprised feeling of being happy with what I wrote. And I have the same surprise that I'm still plugging away at it. It's good to take a moment to appreciate progress. 👍

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  25. Those are great things to be surprised about--in a good way. :)

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  26. It's great that you can see how much progress you've made as a writer, and also that you can see (with what seems like a sense of optimism) that you have more room to grow. I'm brand new to IWSG, so this comment is coming late (I'm working my way through the entire list of participants a few blogs a day). Thanks for sharing your thoughts! A side note: as a resident of Salem, Massachusetts, October is my favorite month as well. Happy writing to you!

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  27. I have to agree with you. I'm surprised to be writing as well and a bit surprised at how much I like it and stubbornly cling to it.

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  28. Oh, boy! You described me in September to a T! I always have fantasies about what I'll get done in the summer. Ha. This year, I was counting on summer to make up for a spring when I got nothing done. Double ha.

    It is comforting to know I'm not the only one.
    —Rebecca
    My IWSG Post

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