This month, Alex Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) asked, “What are your writer highs (the good times) and lows (the not-so-good times)?” Well, I’ve experienced both, and despite the downside of writing, I keep generating content. Here’s why I continue even after years of writing highs and lows.
Writers Write
I’ll prove I my firm grasp of the obvious by stating writers write. If you’re anything like me, you know that feeling all too well.
A compulsion to write is the bright red thread woven throughout the fabric of a writer’s life. Regardless of how you feel about the quality of your prose or poetry, you can’t shake the sense you must write.
Writing Highs and Lows
➨Writing Highs
On a good day, writing flows like a dream. The carefree hippo sunning on the river bank represents the sense of wonder permeating mind and body. Swept along in a writer’s high, you feel like you can do more than you ever hoped or imagined.
➨Writing Lows
On a bad day, writing is impossible, like trying a one-handed retrieve of a beach ball in a swimming pool. The exhausted hippo serves as a proxy for your sense of failure. You can touch a topic with your mind, but the right words float away.
Truth Beats the Lie
You know the lie:
Only certain people with inherent talent are qualified to write.
Here’s the truth:
Anyone can write if they’re willing to study and practice.
And here’s how the truth beats the lie:
- We write, unaware of what we don’t know.
- An honest critique makes us aware of writing issues.
- We then study and practice time-proven writing techniques.
- Over time, our higher quality writing becomes intuitive.
But…
Our Writing Highs and Lows Continue
The good news is you can learn and practice to write faster with higher quality.
Here’s the not-so-good news: our writing highs and lows continue.
That’s the cycle, and no amount of cussing and discussing will change the process.
Conclusion
If you accept there will be good days and not-so-good days as a writer, you’ll surpass the writing wannabes who give up after someone gives an honest critique slicing through their thin skin.
Want to toughen your skin? Apply daily this time-proven salve made from ten two-letter-words:
If it is to be, it is up to me.
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What are your writer highs (the good times) and lows (the not-so-good times), and how do you handle those feelings?
Visit the Insecure Writer’s Support Group
Take a moment and checkout Alex Cavanaugh’s popular Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I encourage you to sign up and take part in the monthly blog challenge. You will also find a list of bloggers signed up for the monthly challenge that are worth checking out. The first Wednesday of every month, we all post our thoughts, fears or words of encouragement for fellow writers.
Above all, the IWSG site is fun and informative!
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