Today is IWSG day, a monthly event Alex Cavanaugh started
to get writers sharing about their insecurities and other stuff going on in
their lives. This month’s IWSG question is: How do you find time to write in
your busy day? My response: I wrote about this subject in last month’s IWSG
post. The truth is, I don’t get to work
on my novel everyday but that doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking about it or
doing other things (reading a book, researching details, or just reflecting on
my story) to prepare me for the time when I get to work on it.
A few months ago, the IWSG
question of the month was about sharing the best comment someone made about
our writing. I don't know if there is one best comment I've received, as I've been lucky to receive support from many people. But there is one encouraging comment that has stuck with me for a long time:
…Years ago, I
attended a weekend writers workshop with about two dozen other writers. Most attendees were other adults, like myself. A youth program allowed a few teens
to participate too. The first two chapters of my YA work-in-progress at the time
was publicly critiqued by everyone. Most of the feedback, useful or not, seemed to come with
kind intentions. Still, I came home from the workshop feeling misunderstood and
defeated. A few grown-ups in the workshop clearly didn’t get what I was trying to do. *Sigh* As a courtesy, I still emailed
most of the people I met that weekend, grown-ups and teens, with a quick note
about how it was nice to meet them and good luck with their writing and all that stuff. One of the
teens wrote back to me and shared that my manuscript had been her favorite
among the grown-ups’ manuscripts.
It was a short
note but it made my day. It also helped me see that not everyone has to get what I’m doing.
But as long as someone does, it makes the effort to do what I'm doing worthwhile.
