Here we are at another IWSG discussion to start our month. Can you believe it's September??? Crazy, huh? And our fourth and last child entering his senior year in high school, this is a big year for our family.

On that note, wishing all teachers, librarians, parents, and educators alike a wonderful 2021-22 school year!

So this month's optional question is as follows: 

How do you define success as a writer? Is it holding your book in your hand? Having a short story published? Making a certain amount of income from your writing?

Good question. Hmm . . . I'd have to say that over my writing journey this answer has changed. Initially, it was submitting my work, receiving an acceptance, and then seeing my words and thoughts (and my byline) in print. Short story, community-based article, or a recipe in a collection, it really didn't matter. From there I'd have to say it was going through the entire process of receiving offers on my manuscripts, working with editors, creating all the marketing/promo goods, and then receiving my publisher copies in a big box from my favorite UPS or FED-EX peeps! Having an authentic book release party at a library helped that feeling of "I've finally made it as an author!" helped a bit, too. 😁

 

But now, after lots of articles, short stories, and a few novels under my belt, my opinion has changed. The finished project is not where the definition of a successful writer comes. It is in the journey taken, the processes adhered to, and the faith to keep forging ahead. It is also in the wisdom to stop and examine if we're on the right path; if we find we are not, it's in the humility to turn around. C.S. Lewis says it best here:

"I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my mind. If it were clear in my mind, I should have no incentive or need to write about it. We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand."

So I currently define being a successful writer as one who stays the course, seeking knowledge and wisdom and the human condition, in humble ambition to share and explore that through the world of fiction.

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Thank you so much to our amazing co-hosts this month!
Rebecca Douglass, T. Powell Coltrin @Journaling Woman, Natalie Aguirre, Karen Lynn, and C. Lee McKenzie! Click on this image to find other participating writers or to join our group!

 

 

 

 

IWSG ~ I Quit!

Happy Wednesday, and welcome to another edition of IWSG!

What's IWSG, you ask? It's a group of writers who lend support, encouragement, and guidance to each other. Once a month, we share our insecurities about writing, marketing, and the publishing industry. On occasion, we also share insecurities or struggles from our daily lives. Want to take part? Click on the image at the end of my post. We'd love to have you join us!

 

This month's question:  

 What would make you quit writing?

Hmm . . . 

 

Honestly, despite the fact that I haven't written a whole heck of a lot since Covid began, I don't think I'll ever fully toss in the towel where writing is concerned. Writing grounds me. It's a way for me to sort through emotions and life's happenings - call it my personal therapy.

Saying that, this is a good opportunity to come clean about the reality of my writing. When my middle grade publisher closed back in April of 2019, saying I was bummed is putting it lightly. But, I picked myself up and forged ahead. Thankfully, my MG book and the sequel were picked up by another publisher. And then Covid hit. Most of us experienced a lot of similar emotions and issues during that time; it's all kind of self-explanatory. For me, it was also a time of self-(re)evaluation. The three major deaths my family experienced in 2019 just prior to Covid, my MG pub closing, my mom's failing health (MS & dementia), and the stresses of owning our own business began to line up like lights on a runway. I found myself asking "Why am I writing? No, really? Is there a greater purpose for my stories and for what I have to say?"

This question led me back down the spiritual road that God had set me on years ago. I've always loved my faith as a Catholic, but this whole Covid ordeal made me look deeper, made me seriously search for God, for purposes, for lessons I needed to learn to become who He wanted me to be as opposed to the 'who' I thought I should be. I'm not here to talk about faith, but to express the need to find and reinvent my purpose for keeping pen to paper and fingers to the keys instead of quitting. (I mean, I do still have another MG book coming out late this year and a short story in an anthology, and I am working on a new middle grade novel. So no, I'm not quitting. LOL) It's my focus and kind of stories I feel I should be writing that's changed.

Writers, throughout your writing journey have you discovered the need to reinvent your purpose(s) for writing?

 

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Thank you to all our co-hosts for this month! Pat Garcia, Victoria Marie Lees, and Louise – Fundy Blue! Click on this image to find other participating writers or to join our group!