Melissa Maygrove

This is my Insecure Writers Support Group post for August. Alex's awesome co-hosts this month are:  Nancy Gideon, Bob R Milne,   Doreen McGettigan, Chrys Fey,   Bish Denham, and Pat Garcia! Please stop by their blogs and say thank you .  I'm insecure about a lot of things... the state of our nation... radical changes at my 'rea l' job ... the fact I just celebrated the last birthda y of my 40s , but I'm not insecure about my writing. Well, not as much as I was, anyway. 

This is my Insecure Writers Support Group post for July.   IWSG is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. It's a monthly bloghop that offers a safe haven for writers to express their feelings and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. It's also a venue for offering support, both in the form of comments and positive posts. Writers of all kinds are welcome.  We 'meet' the first Wednesday of every month. If you're interested in learning more, click on the link above. And don't be intimidated by the size of the group. We're not expected to visit everyone on the list.  Alex's awesome co-hosts for July are: Nancy Thompson – http://nancysthompson. blogspot.com/ Mark Koopmans – http://markkoopmans.blogspot. com/ Heather Gardner - http://hmgardner.blogspot.com/ Please stop by their blogs and say thank you. ### Once again, my pre-made IWSG post sat empty until the eleventh hour because I wasn't sure wha...

This is my Insecure Writers Support Group post for April.   IWSG is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. It's a monthly bloghop that offers a safe haven for writers to express their feelings and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. It's also a venue for offering support, both in the form of comments and positive posts . Writers of all kinds are welcome.  We 'meet' the first Wednesday of every month. If you're interested in learning more, click on the link above. And don't be intimidated by the size of the group. We're not expected to visit everyone on the list.  I make blank place-holder posts for IWSG, and this one sat empty for a long time. I kept waiting for a flash of inspiration about what to write. In light of my impending blog hiatus, I decided to address the semi-scathing article I posted last week. In it, I took a strong stand against careless self-publishing. The post generated many cries of support...

This is my Insecure Writers Support Group post for March.   IWSG is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. It's a monthly bloghop that offers a safe haven for writers to express their feelings and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. It's also a venue for offering support, both in the form of comments and positive posts . Writers of all kinds are welcome.  We 'meet' the first Wednesday of every month. If you're interested in learning more, click on the link above. And don't be intimidated by the size of the group. We're not expected to visit everyone on the list.  ### Announcements first (and this is a biggie) . . .  

This is my Insecure Writers Support Group post for February.   IWSG is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. It's a monthly bloghop that offers a safe haven for writers to express their feelings and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. It's also a venue for offering support, both in the form of comments and positive posts . Writers of all kinds are welcome.  We 'meet' the first Wednesday of every month. If you're interested in learning more, click on the link above. And don't be intimidated by the size of the group. We're not expected to visit everyone on the list. The last two months, my posts were encouraging and long.  This month, it's going to be short and soul-baring.  

How many of you cringe when you read one of your early attempts at fiction?  *shudder* I do.  I blush and shake my head, musing how naive I was to think that was good writing. And how kind my first readers were not to laugh.  I try not to think of those early days because...well...it's flat out embarrassing.  But what if I step back and look at this from a different POV. I recently read a post on a fellow writer's blog entitled Totaled , in which she tells of writing her first novel and how she finally scrapped it as a total loss. Yet she didn't consider it a waste of time. In fact, she's glad for the experience. And her post got me thinking...

Now that school's out, I'm reorganizing myself. I'm going to stomp, scream & threaten to move out if I don’t get plan some writing time for my WIP. I’m half way there, and if I could get a few days of uninterrupted time, I could finish the first draft of Come Back . I’ll probably barricade myself inside a hotel room for a couple of nights soon and do some marathon writing while hubby holds down the fort. (I soooo need a vacation! ...Can you tell? :P) Another goal I have is to make the blog rounds soon, and then visit more regularly in the future. I've failed miserably at that goal lately. *blushes and hangs head in shame* I've also been dealing with some negative thinking about my writing. I go from feeling like I really have a handle on it — that it's good — to thinking I'm deluding myself and no one will like it. From believing my crit partners' compliments, to thinking they're just being 'nice' and not telling me how bad it really is....