@Karen Thank you for the great quote and the kind words, Karen. That means a lot… By the way, Joanna Young is awesome. She always has the good stuff.

@Margaret Welcome aboard! You know I’ve met so many different artists who are programming as a “day job”: musicians, painters, performance artists, and of course writers. I’m not sure if we’re a clever bunch or if we’ve all gotten suckered into the field.

Margaret’s last blog post..Shoes White People Like

Joanna Young shared this quote today and I could not help but share it with you. You have accomplished serious work when you “almost started writing.” You are talented my friend, and I eagerly look forward to the next installment.

Karen Swim’s last blog post..How I Made the A-List with Little to No Fanfare

Oops, that should be Forrester with 2 Rs. It’s not great cinema but I liked it. I think it illustrated how much of a writer’s angst is self-imposed by some misguided idea that self-flagellation is our only duty.

Your previous comment about fearing success made me think you had seen the movie. So in the interest of “no spoilers” I’ll leave it at that.

Have you read Margaret Mitchell’s (Gone with the Wind) bio?

@Steph I think that’s the same problem every writer faces no matter how far along they are in their career. I’ve written two novels and I still have trouble thinking about the next piece.

Thanks for the kind words and good luck with your blog! You should turn those two paragraphs above into a nugget for a new post on your site!

You don’t come out and say it, but I think you’re grappling with the same sort of thing as I do, that you want to write but can’t seem to make the time or commitment to sit down and decide to write something substantial. I just started my blog today and I feel like maybe I’ll make strides in my writing now that I can email posts from anywhere, but I know I’m going to have to get over my own issues before I can actually create something as powerful as the passion I have for writing.

Am I making sense? Also sorry for writing this whole post about myself– being self-absorbed will come back to bite you sometimes. What I wanted to say though, was, GREAT! You really connected with me as a reader.

Steph

I’m writing my own post, really I am; I promise.

My lack of courage is something that Ralph Keyes talks about in Courage to Write: I’m afraid of success.

So no one should worry about me turning off this site (got an email from a reader right after that last comment). I love the name and the idea behind the site and I can’t see a time when I won’t.

Writing and failure go hand in hand. It’s part of the game. The best work comes from stretching yourself.

I’m looking forward to that next post of yours, Deb!

What I was talking about was your comment that “Once I acknowledge the fact that it is real writing, the whole thing goes to hell.” I will elaborate in my own post but the “Cliff’s Notes” version is I think you have the idea that writing for real should be more inspired, or more professional, or should only take one rewrite, or some such nonsense. That is bunk, you are doing real writing and you need to print up a WORD doc that reads:

I do real writing

…in 36 font Times Roman and make 20 copies of it and post it prominently and read it aloud every time you see one of those copies until you believe it and exorcise that counterproductive thinking and behaving. And we all have a j-o-b to keep us afloat but we need to give it its due but no more than its due.