My IWSG Post on Fear

Good morning blogger family and fellow writers! It’s the first Wednesday of the month and we all know what that means right?   It’s time for another monthly meeting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group!  (Everybody throw your hands in the air, and wave ’em like ya just don’t care!) Um, yeah…sorry, I was having flashbacks of my younger years — way, way back when I had little fear.

But before I get started, let me just say that the AMAZING Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh, who is an entity in himself, founded this spectacular group.  And to quote from the IWSG website:

“Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and fears without appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!”

I also would like to thank this month’s co-hosts for the phenomenal job they’re doing; I learned first hand after my first co-hosting last month. 🙂  You rock:

Mark Koopmans Joylene Nowell Butler Lisa Buie-Collard and Elsie Amata

When I started blogging last February, I was fearful of so many things. What if no one followed me? What if no one liked my posts? Or even worse, what if no one thought I could put together a decent sentence, let alone write something worth reading?

It took months before I felt comfortable enough to let my guard down a little. I began writing about the events leading up to and after my hemorrhage. It was a personal story, one that I haven’t finished yet, because life happened to get in the way. But I put it out there. Then in October, I entered a blog contest called Spooktoberfest by a great duo of bloggers: Entertaining Interests and Bouquet of Books. It was the first time I entered ANYTHING of mine in competition having it read and judged by other people. Talk about fear? I was petrified, but excited at the same time. The great thing was that I got my little story out there; it made it to a runner-up spot, and I’m still here to talk about it! 🙂

I’ve learned that I can’t move forward if I don’t face my fears. I’m taking two online writing classes with Gotham’s Workshops based in NYC and I have to put my work out there for critique by my teacher and my fellow students in what’s known as ‘The Booth’.I work extremely hard to get my work done and although I’m still afraid sometimes, I don’t allow it to rule me anymore.

This blog is slowly going back to its original purpose: to chronicle my writing journey. I’ve created another blog My Miracle Life, that will focus on my life post hemorrhage.

With the help of a very, very small network of offline friends, my blogging community, and the IWSG, I’ve got this. See? I ain’t skeered!!!