The emotional roller coaster…

Of my writing life.

I skimmed through my blog posts this week and realized that my emotional journey has been a running theme here as well as writing tips and updates on my projects. In this post, I’m going to add some more emotions to my collection as I continue to reflect on 2021 and prep for 2022.

Self-doubt or imposter syndrome: Am I good enough? Will people enjoy this story?

Fear and nervousness when sharing my work with early readers. (Share anyway.)

Procrastination: I don’t want to admit that there is a problem in my draft. Or I don’t know how to write the next part of my story. I don’t think I can skip over it and work on something else so I reread my work and make little edits, or write nothing, or pull out a completely different project.

Anxiety about the professional side of publishing my work. I am a creative person but I also need to use the other side of my brain and research agents and think about things like marketing if I want my story to reach more readers.

Panic when I have a technical issue and worry about lost work if I have to revert to backups.

Disappointment or uneasiness when I’ve changed my writing routine and wonder if it’s going to majorly set back my progress.

Feeling overwhelmed by the balancing act of trying to be a writer along with everything else I need to do and be to have a full life.

Excitement when a new scene, character, or entire world is just pouring out of me from who knows where.

Triumph when my brain finally solved that tricky plot problem while I was daydreaming in the shower and forgot whether I had already put conditioner in my hair or not.

Sadness when my project has completely stalled and I don’t have a single idea about what to add or edit out of my book.

Humility and gratitude when the feedback from my writing group pals and beta readers helps me grow and make my story even better.

Strength (helped along by pep talks) as I gear up for major edits to draft number I-can’t-even-remember. It WILL get better this time! I control this story! It doesn’t control me! Cut the unnecessary things!

Exhaustion so I close the laptop because breaks are healthy.

Pride for being brave enough to sit down and write already. For finishing drafts of six books (with a seventh in the works that is so different from the others I want to do a happy dance when I think about it because it means I have range.)  For stepping out into the digital world as a writer and making connections with other talented people.

And most importantly, JOY from typing away with my canine writing assistant snoring on my feet. Writing makes me happy. Period. If someday my work can reach more readers than my writing group and gracious betas, that would be awesome. For now, I am finding joy in being me, writing about the fantasy worlds of my dreams.