Time for our monthly meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Hosted as ever by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the aim of the group is to offer a safe space where writers can share doubts and insecurities without fear of being judged. This month's co-hosts are Patricia Josephine, Deidre Knight, Olga Godim, J. Lenni Dorner and Cathrina Constantine.
I'm going to skip the question this month because I really have nothing to answer it! Honestly, it made me a little bit anxious. Instead, I'm going to talk about a subject I'm sure many of you can relate to: the jitters leading up to a book release. Any form of release will come with nerves, I know that, but with my first traditionally published book this feels different from self-publishing because there's a lot of other people invested in my book and its success. I don't want to let them down, but at the same time there's so much that feels out of my control: reviews, sales, events... it all seems pretty overwhelming. And I'm lucky that my publisher offered on my follow-up too. With this being a writer's group, what I want to explore is the impact all this has on my writing. You'd think I'd be more comfortable and confident in that area knowing that people are backing me. Instead, it seems harder than ever before to string together a sentence that makes sense. Can I deliver again? I don't know. Can I find the fun and joy in writing again without a lingering sense of pressure? Really hope so. Switching from a publishing/marketing mindset to a purely creative one means wearing two completely different hats and just putting one down and putting the other one on is no easy thing. I know this isn't groundbreaking news or anything, but I'm feeling it more than ever right now.
I know many of you will have been here, or are here. Grateful for any and all advice. I'm in a privileged position, and this isn't meant to be a whine. But I guess what I'm learning is there's no point or nothing that can happen that would make writing "easier" or less of an effort. But it's never meant to be easy, or ultimately the reward wouldn't be as good.
To find more posts for the IWSG, check out the list here!
