Writing Weaknesses
Someone asked on an online writers’ site for a description of our writing weaknesses.
Most of the answers were comforting for their familiarity. Overwriting? Done it. Underwriting? Same. Obsessively reworking, clinging to ineffective phrases, struggling to describe settings? Yep, lived that life. Isn’t it nice how as writers we push through the same drama on our individual paths?
For me, new issues develop weekly that are harder to explain.
I’ve been writing for most of my life. From the moment I could reproduce words on paper, I was trying to fit them together into stories.
In my twenties, a health scare inspired me to make panic-inducing decisions about what my aims in life. At the top of that list was Share my fiction.
That meant I had to write more. Nothing was going out into the world until I figure out what a mature story looked like. Most of my attempts were adolescents that needed to stay home.
In the following years, I read books on writing, attended writing groups, studied my favorite novels by picking them apart over and over, journaled and blogged about the writing process, pestered authors in my with social circles with questions, and of course, wrote.
Those years, the undesired break from writing fiction that spanned another few years, and the past several months of reentry into writing communities has provided me with more than enough time to identify my primary weakness.
It’s self-confidence.
Knowing What to Share
Self-confidence: (noun) realistic confidence in one’s own judgment, ability, power, etc.
Figuring out what’s worth researching, titling, and finding images for is almost impossible without the ability to assess what people will read.
On average, I publish one out of every four blog posts drafted. Guessing wildly here: I save a draft post for every three ideas. Coming up with ideas is quick, growing out of my focus each day. Each post, however, takes hours to write and edit.
Parts of unpublished drafts end up in my story notes. They aren’t useless. The writing about links and new concepts can feel like a waste, however.
Some days, the most anxiety-filled ones, I wish my blog came with an actual editor–a person who would tell me what to write when. Other than the obligatory coffee chats and surprise check-ins, this could save not only time but also energy and sanity better sacrificed to my fiction.
Yeah, a leading editor would be nice.
Would you like to take on the role for a few minutes? Tell me what you really want to read more about.
Quick Thank-You for Support
An anonymous person showed me love through the Buy Me a Coffee button on my sidebar. Getting money for writing is an incredible feeling. Positive feedback is, too.
Thank you so much for the coffee and note, dear reader!
