Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
The awesome co-hosts for the June 1 posting of the IWSG are SE White,Cathrina Constantine,Natalie Aguire,Joylene Nowell Butler, and Jacqui Murray!
It’s time for Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group post. Every month, we announce a question to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story.
June 1 question – When the going gets tough writing the story, how do you keep yourself writing to the end?
Margaret Atwood stopped writing The Handmaid’s Tale multiple times because she felt the story was too implausible. It would never be popular. Yes, she’s quoted on that.
90% of writing is powering through obstacles. There are mornings I stare at my computer and write copy, edit copy, review anthology submissions, or keep a problematic chapter going by thinking a played out 90’s Nike slogan. Really.
We all have dark energy. Dark energy is energy we can’t see. We just know it’s there. It’s there and we can’t let it get sucked into a black hole. Black holes are the crap piles on your desk. The ghosts of projects uncompleted whispering, “You sure you want to do this again?”
Black holes suck away energy. I once threw a black hole (stack of crap) into the bin next to my desk without even bothering with what was on the top. If I hadn’t looked at it in a week, it wasn’t important. I still have only a vague idea of what it consisted of.
Helpful quotes like, “One sentence creates an avalanche.” become a mantra. While clawing, scratching, and pulling crap out of the ether to spin into relatable thought provoking platforms of inquiry and discovery I have to accept this will not be enjoyable.
I can think of 100 other things I’d rather be doing. Cleaning toilets. Holding an open pillowcase as far away from my person as possible while my friend thrusts her angry snakes towards me with a handler stick. (This really happened.) Cleaning barnacles off a boat with a rusty scraper wearing leaky snorkel gear in questionable Bay Area water. Chores like that. I’ve put my head in my hands thinking, “I’d rather be drilling screws through my toes.”
Despite all this nothing feels as good as the hit of dopamine received upon completion. My name’s on it. I feel fulfilled. Feedback rereleases the initial hit. The memory of the feeling keeps me going back.
What keeps you writing? I will return comments promptly as long as my robots let me!
