[I wrote this post as a member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group where we share our worries and also offer support and encouragement to each other on the first Wednesday of every month. If you’re a writer like me and you’re looking for a bit of support, you can click the link and sign up here]

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I used to be the jealous little sister.

Watching from the sidelines with pudgy cheeks and wide glittering eyes, hoping for one second that I could pick up a soccer ball, a tennis racket, a baseball bat or even a pen, paper and calculator to perform a task the very first time exactly the way it should have been – perfect.

I’d try. I’d fail and fail again. The gifts I had in me just wouldn’t do. That was my first definition of success.

Want + Try = Perfect the first time.

I once believed writing was just that way too.

When I finished my very first draft of my very first manuscript I thought, “this is really something.” Someone’s going to see my passion, and sign me up. I’ll get an agent, a published book, and I just couldn’t see the big picture any other way. My family cheered me on and my friends did too.

That was eight years ago. Recently I looked back on that first draft of my very first manuscript and I get now why it had been rejected. I wasn’t ready. My writing wasn’t strong enough. And a writing platform? What was that?

Then the formula shifted: Want + Try + Perform + Try Again = Possibility.

I reached a goal back in 2013. I did get published. But it was a short story competition I entered. It was a friend who told me to shift gears. I had two weeks to write and scheme up an answer to a theme. I thought, “What the hell do I have to lose?”

I’m writing this post today, as part insecure and part encourager.

I think there are those lucky ones out there, who make it the first time they try and submit, just like my brother did. That’s awesome. It really is, but for others of us, I think there’s a tad bit harder ladder to climb.

I found a great blog post called copyblogger. Ironically, it was written at the same time I started seriously searching out the path of publishing and writing. I’ve pulled a few thoughts from the post and added a few of my own:

1. Patience is a necessary virtue. (This one is mine) I don’t have much of it. I’m not wired to wait, except when it come to my kids. Each day is an adventure and it doesn’t always work out like the picture you saw in your head. And in writing, I’ve grown some through the years and gained patience thanks to the coaching of point number two …
2. A mentor: someone who loves to read the things you do. Who writes the things you do so when they critique and read your work, their helpful shifts in your dialogue, or their character cues may be spot on with what your audience needs and wants to see, too.

3. Structure. This is the one I had to learn. The structure of writing a novel, the arc of the character, and creating all the backstories for each and every character. Where is the villain in every chapter? What makes them tick as they do?

4. Marketing and networking. When I started, I had no clue how to do this. It was so fuzzy and vague, but now, eight years later, I see the importance of twitter, blogging and putting oneself out there in public to do everything you can to get the book seen.

5. Lastly, and the one tip I’m trying to push through as I finished up draft four in my eight year long journey with the character and the story, is letting go of the fear. I need to find those glittery eyes again and believe, even through time, that someday, if I keep plugging away and doing what I really want to do because I love it, someday, someone else will love it too.

Here’s the blog I visited:

http://www.copyblogger.com/writing-struggle/

Here’s a couple of great quotes I found poking around the internet:

“Go back a little to leap further.” -John Clarke

“To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.” -Soren Kierkegaard

And thank you to the co-hosts this month for spending so much time in helping all of us 🙂

Murees Dupe
Alexia Chamberlynn
Chemist Ken
Heather Gardner

Happy June 1st! If you have a formula for success, I’d love to hear it.