Insecure Writer’s Support Group

It’s time again for #IWSG, the first Wednesday of every month.  You can choose to answer the optional IWSG question or simply write about your favorite topic — writing.

“RULES: This group posts EVERY month. If you sign up and miss one first Wednesday, that’s all right! Those who sign up just to advertise or miss two postings in a row will be removed so as not to waste group member’s time. Please refrain from posting non-writing related tangents under the IWSG badge. We believe in freedom of speech, but please relate your post to the life of a writer in some fashion. Those who don’t will be given a warning. If done a second time, you will be removed from the blog hop list. Guest posts for IWSG Day are acceptable, but the post should address writing insecurities in some way. Thanks for respecting the purpose of this group!”

Optional IWSG Q:  What is one valuable lesson you’ve learned since you started writing?

I think the biggest lesson for me has been that community is more important than just about anything else, and that my allegiance to that community advises how I interact within it.  If I interact with love, civility, patience, tolerance and kindness then I get that back exponentially.  The lesson is not new for me, but one that’s been repeated in every phase of my life.

I went to a Catholic elementary school and the sense of community permeated everything from attending mass, to bake sales, to girl scouts and summer vacation.  In high school, my time spent on the swim team with the same group of kids, hours in the pool every day, resulted in an “all for one and one for all” mentality, kids who worked hard and played hard together.  In college, stranded on the island of almost-adulthood with a group of young adults who were similarly situated, I entered another circle and friends became family, friends, I’m proud to say, that are still a very relevant and important part of my life.

And now, today, here I sit in the blogosphere, interacting daily with people I may never meet in person, but with whom I share common core beliefs and with who I am forming lasting friendships.  If you would have asked me before I started writing whether this phenomena would have been possible, I probably couldn’t have envisioned it, but here we sit as writers, with access, literally, to the world.  It’s like a sacred trust, to be out there, opining, spreading the good news (why spread bad when there’s already enough of it), encouraging and cheering each other on.  There’s #IWSG, and #WATWB, and Mystery Writers Support Group group just to name a few.  It’s a really great place to be, and I look forward to the time spent there and to see where the seeds of the friendships I am sowing will take me.  So to all you insecure writers out there, take heart:  there’s a whole community of like-minded others just watching and waiting for you to succeed.  You just need to embrace them.

Have an Insecure Writer’s Support Group post you want to share.  Join here.

This month’s co-hosts are:

Tamara Narayan
Pat Hatt
Patricia Lynne
Juneta Key
Doreen McGettigan

Go show their blogs some love.  Visit members. Return comments. Be respectful. And have FUN! 

And if you live in the U.S., Happy Independence Day.  May your writing be liberated!

pjlazos 7.4.17