fbpx

C. Lee McKenzie

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

You are here: Home / Uncategorized / IWSG Among Other Things

IWSG Among Other Things

By

Brain Child of Alex J. Cavanaugh
The awesome co-hosts for the November 2 posting of the IWSG will be Joylene Nowell Butler, Jen Chandler, Mary Aalgaard, Lisa Buie Collard, Tamara Narayan, Tyrean Martinson, and Christine Rains!
Sign up!
I went back into my archives and found this post from 2011. Thing just don’t ever change! Except the logo for IWSG is now different, and there’s a question to answer each month. November’s question is What is your favorite aspect of being a writer?

The Insecure Writer, Me 2011

See these nails?  I stopped biting them just in time to save the fingertips and why? Because I’m an INSECURE WRITER; I need those fingers for the keyboard.

This is me when I was an INSECURE ACTRESS, biting my nails.  (Ignore the caption. Marilyn was always trying to get the spotlight away from me. I think she might have been more insecure than I was.)

I don’t know which is worse, my insecurity on stage or what I’m enduring now. But I no longer look like the picture above. Here’s a more recent one. 

Writer on the Verge . . . but of what?

Oh, I have me ups and downs. There have been days when I’ve seen myself with the Nobel prize for literature clutched in my nibbled fingers. I once thought I’d craft a Newberry Award acceptance speech just in case . . . you know the phone rang. But when a call came through on the day the award was decided, it was the vet telling me I could pick up Buffy.

This is my INSECURE WRITERS REJECTION week and I’m celebrating by joining the blog hop of other angst-filled-creative-finger nibblers. At last a support group.

Answer to the November Question: I like to be able to tell stories the way I want to. Writing is a control freak’s best friend.

Comments

  1. Wow! Amazing how long the IWSG has been around. What a great group of writers. I always enjoyed reading everyone's posts. 🙂
    ~Jess

  2. This was fun Lee! I never was a nail biter, but our Halloween candy supply has dwindled and we barely had any trick-or-treaters. At least you don't have to worry about the calories! I also took part in the first IWSG and can't believe it's been around for five years. I always look forward to our monthly gatherings.

    Julie

  12. Thanks for coming by my blog and how did we lose touch! I don't remember the name of the blog but I'd never forget your lovely face! And I'm with you – writing is a control freak's best friend. As a person who's written a ton of plays – gah! They get all in your kool-aid with their ideas about the set and the voice and the intention. Rather right a novel my way.

  13. LOL. "Writing is a control freak's best friend!" And who doesn't dream (in their own particular Secret Garden) of winning a Nobel or Newbery prize?

  16. It actually took me a while to understand that there were links behind those books! And when I realized that, a smile broke on my lips. Those links also did not disappoint me. A marvelous website. I will explore some more.

  24. I am pretty certain that a lot of the writer's my awe struck self comes across would continue to tell their stories, even if they had to pound the keyboards with their bleeding stumps.
    For which I thank them.

  30. I had to smile at your last sentence. Writing is a control freak's best friend. When I think about how we manipulate our characters then I have to agree with you.
    Shalom aleichem,
    Pat

  32. I don't bite my nails either, and I do keep them short but because of necessity. They are too thin, like my skin sometimes when getting feedback from my wonderful beta readers! I've learned to read the feedback, wait three days, then read it again. Always works. After three days I can actually hear what they're saying instead of just reacting!

  40. Not a lot changes with us writers unless we hit the big times! The indie revolution has given us the freedom to write exactly what we like. I love that!

  41. A wonderful trip down memory lane of the IWSG.
    Hope there are more wonderful post to come.
    Alex certainly started something when he started this group.
    Yvonne.

  44. Awesome post!! Love it. The only problem is that picture is of me, not Marilyn. I worked as her decoy. Sure, I was born three years after the day she died, but as a writer, I can manipulate those facts to my story with the time machine I have written into the plot.

  45. Yes, we need our fingers to write! I had bit my nails when I was little because my best friend got me into it. Now I let them grow. 🙂

  46. I used to bite my nails. I just nibble from time to time now. What a great 'old' post. Nice to reminisce and see how far you've come in those few years. You must be proud as punch! 🙂 Have a super November.