The Insecure Writer’s Group August Blog Hop: A Real and True Typhoon

The Insecure Writers’ Group is an organization of writers offering support and encouragement to all those taking on the challenges of writing. Every month they sponsor a blog hop where writers can blog about a topic related to overcoming obstacles and exploring various aspects of the writing journey. If you’d like to participate in a future hop you can join here.

Thank you to Alex J. Cavanaugh for creating this awesome group, and to this month’s co-hosts: PK Hrezo, Cathrina Constantine, PJ Colando, Kim Lajevardi, and Sandra Cox.

Every month the ISWG offers a question to help writer’s think and write about a topic related to writing, writing craft and insecurities when writing. The question is optional, I was going to answer it… then last minute decided instead to pivot to something else when something on my mind suddenly became more urgent for me this week. I’ve had this question going through my head for a while now, and thought this would be the perfect place to ask–here there are a lot of writers, with a lot of experience, and a lot of knowledge. So here goes.

If my life were a ship, or I myself were a ship, I would be a ship that likes to sail on fairly calm waters. If I were to be honest though, my mental state is oftentimes a lot stormier, with self-inflicted thunderstorms and sometimes even hurricanes and all kinds of other inclement weather that self-sabotages and sometimes rocks the ship (thankfully for me, they haven’t yet sunk the ship). But regardless, it’s not ideal sailing conditions.

I’m coming now to a point in my life where I have to hit the “done” button on some important projects. And to be honest, it’s time. I’ve worked on them for a very long while (years), and I really should be sharing them. But to be straightforward, I’m struggling through it. I’m navigating some typhoon like weather in terms of the fear of letting go and letting things go into the world. And no matter what I tell myself, I’m not navigating my way out of this one easily. I sit and stare at what feels to be this wall of impenetrable water and clouds and psych myself up. I fully plan on moving forward, the work is done, I’m almost ready but…I feel stuck. So my question is, how do you take that step to do something that really scares you, especially when it comes to writing?

I would really like to hear from everyone, to find out how you personally overcome those torrential internal storms to press through and accomplish a goal that scares you? To hit submit/send, to share something important, to put your stamp on something and let it fly? It can be about anything, not just writing. I know we all experience things differently, and something terrifying to me might not be to you, and vice versa. But I would love to hear more about your perspective either way, so we can support one another! Let me know in the comments!

-Winter