Yay! It's the first Wednesday of the month and it's time for the Insecure Writer's Support Group posts. If you haven't heard of the group, pop over to the blog and check it out, then check out the Facebook group. It's a great group full of supportive people including our leader Alex J. Cavanaugh. Who continues to motivate us even in his busy published life.
We've even put together an anthology packed full of helpful hints about the publishing industry. It's available on Amazon for the amazingly low price... of free! All you have to do is download it on your kindle app. (I'm in there, talking about editing.)
So..... on with my post!
Do you put up walls?
How many people know you are a writer? For a long time I was a closet writer, until I discovered one of my friends was a closet writer too. We both came out of the closet and started telling people we were writers. It's really scary at first. You know why, right? They are going to ask you the dreaded question... "So what books have you written?" Gulp! But you shouldn't gulp. Whether you have published a book or not you have written more than one I would suspect. So, answer fearlessly...."I have written 777 books (or however many you really have written) and now I'm working on editing, revising, and submitting them to agents and publishing houses." Do you see how strong that sounds? It takes a little of the scary away, I hope.
Do you use walls to hide yourself? Would you rather be hidden inside your house creating new worlds than being outside experiencing this world?
When you push yourself to get out of your comfort zone you will have more voice for your characters and more genuine experiences for them. Personally, I would have a hard time writing about a place unless I had been to it. Research is great, don't get me wrong. I research the places I write about, even if I have been there or know them well. I used to push myself to do things out of my comfort zone (helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon) to show my daughter I was capable of pushing myself. Now I do it because I know it makes me a better person and writer. So, don't hide behind a wall to keep safe, get out there and experience life!
Sometimes walls are put up because you or your character have been hurt. Finding a way to open that wall and let people in with help both you or your character have a more full life.
Walls are often put up to mark a territory. They show ownership and often wealth. When you are locking yourself or your character in a bubble of life, you or your character are getting a limited vision of the world.
But they can be put up as a warning to other that danger is ahead if you continue on this path. Sadly, sometimes people ignore those warnings.
Nature often provides us with walls. You know when you get that feeling in your gut that something feels wrong in a situation? That's Nature putting up a wall for you. It's up to you (or your character) whether you pay attention to the wall.
So be prepared...
to make some changes...
push through some old walls...
in search of new challenges.
And perhaps...
you'll walk down a public path, beside the wall of an old castle with the person you can let all your walls down with.
And you'll learn from his wisdom that you must take chances to succeed.
Thanks for stopping by today. My pictures are all from my trip to England last month. The gentleman at the end is my inspiration, my hero, and my grandfather. I'm more free to be me with him than with anyone else in the world. I hope every one of you have someone that you can have no walls with.
Have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July!
