The "Insecure Writer's Support Group", or #IWSG as the hashtag goes, is a site dedicated to helping people who like to write get over their fears of:
1. not being enough
2. being too much,
3. not smart enough
4. not interesting.
5. (fill in your favorite "not enough" or "too much")
It is hosted by Alex Cavenaugh, and this month's co-hosts are: L.G. Keltner, Denise Covey. Sheri Larsen, J.Q. Rose, Chemist Ken, and Michelle Wallace.
~~~oOo~~~
One of my earliest memories is of my mother saying she didn't want me to apply to be in a children's 'beauty pagent'. For all I know, we may not have had enough disposable income at the time. Hey, I was a kid ... and this was a lo-o-ong time ago. What I heard was: "You're not (pretty) enough to win."
So I've dealt with these feelings a long time.
I still get those feelings sometimes, when I've started out like gangbusters and then the "not good enough" monster pops up so his cousin monster "what's the use" can slide in and get to work undermining whatever I'm working on at the moment.
The funny things is last November I got in a couple of day's worth of 'just getting the words on the paper' and turning off the inner critic (and let me tell you, I can be harsh on me) - and it was wonderfully liberating. I am determined to have more of those days this year!
Funny how something like that can stick with us for life.
ReplyDeleteI hope you do have more days like that!
Thanks Alex! I really appreciate all you do for the writing and blogging communities!
DeleteHi LuAnn! I really connected with your memories and that "Not good enough" Monster. I still struggle with it. Sometimes I turn my music on really loud to drown out those voices. Wishing you many silent days of productive writing in 2016!
ReplyDeleteTurning on music really loud? Now that sounds like something I could do! (Gotta figure out how to get those family-types out of the house before I get it going!)
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