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 Jennifer Lane, Jenni Enzor, Renee Scattergood, Rebecca Douglass, Lynn Bradshaw and Cathrina Constantine.
There's an interesting question for this month's topic: When you began writing, what did you imagine your life as a writer would be like? Were you right, or has this experience presented you with some surprises along the way?
I need to cast my mind right back for this because I've been writing for so long that it's hard to remember my initial expectations. I'm not sure I really had any, although the pipe dream of being able to do this full time was probably always floating around (still tantalisingly out of reach). Maybe I thought it would get easier the longer I kept at it, and I've definitely been disabused of that - I struggle as much as ever. But that's because every story presents unique challenges.
I didn't imagine much about success and popularity because at first I only focused on getting a story finished, and it took a while to achieve that. Since then, it's always been about finishing the next story. Being on a bestseller list, or winning an award, would be nice, but I can't say I ever spent too much time pondering on these hypotheticals. The best thing I would say if anyone was starting out would be to live your story in the moment and concentrate on that. Let everything else spiral from that!
While I'm here, I should update you on what I'm doing with my stories right now. Edits are underway on my YA sci-fi adventure about a VR simulation that gets out of control and traps a human participant, tentatively titled Artificial Life. Ten chapters have been reviewed. Finding a few plotholes, a lot of repetitive mannerisms, but overall I'm quite pleased at how solid the story is so far. This is a first pass so the real work is yet to come, of course. My querying journey continues for Mirror Me, and I recently got my first full request from an agent, so that's enough to keep me on this track for a while.
I'm interested to hear your answers to this question, and all your news. As ever the list of IWSG entrants can be found here. See you next time!
