It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post on the first Wednesday of every month. Every month, the organizers announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. Remember, the question is optional!!! Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
January 4 question – Do you have a word of the year? Is there one word that sums up what you need to work on or change in the coming year? For instance, in 2021 my word of the year was Finish. I was determined to finish my first draft by the end of the year. In 2022, my word of the year was Ease. I want to get my process, systems, finances, and routines where life flows with ease and less chaos. What is your word for 2023?
My sister and I had already decided this week that our word for 2023 would be synchronicity. I finished writing the rough draft for my next book at the beginning of last year and started working on editing it. Whereas in the past, I have poured decades of my life into editing my stories, there was a decided impulse this time to make things simpler. So halfway through 2022, I formed a writing group, The Fabulatores, and began editing my book through these sessions with other writers. I am nearly halfway through polishing the manuscript this way. We took a hiatus before Christmas and re-adjourn on January 20. I intend to complete running through the material with The Fabulatores this year and then turn it over to the professional proofreader and editor for the polishing steps.
Am I hopeful to publish before Christmas? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. But the difference now is I’m not willing to wreck myself. The biggest lesson I learned last time was that nearly all my ills related to the deadline I had set for publication. The moral of the self-publishing story is do not set unrealistic deadlines. Publishing a book takes waaaaaay longer than you think it will. Therefore, knowing that up front this time, I won’t make the publication deadline on a date set by wishful thinking. Trying to meet the date I had slated for the book release party nearly killed me in 2020 and made everyone around me miserable. My youngest son begged me not to write and publish another book because he didn’t want to go through it again. I felt sorry for my family, friends, and everyone who had to deal with me. I made my apologies and resolved that I would never self-publish another book, at least not in that working-around-the-clock way ever again.
The quandary was how to do it differently?
My general feeling about how the word synchronicity applies to my fiction writing in 2023 is this. From now on, I will try not to push my work to publishable standards in a vanishing amount of time but to allow for the production to happen more naturally. Not to run around like a headless chicken the whole time but to manage running everything else in my life calmly. It’s about relaxed, organic, sustained effort on the goal while maintaining an attitude of humility and patience. I want to allow time and grace for the synchronicity to happen. I’m hoping that if I keep the Ace up my sleeve of a flexible publication date, I can produce my next book without poisoning the goodwill of everyone else in the family! That’s the hope. Wish me luck!
How about you? What is your word for 2023?
Happy New Year, everyone!
Keep Writing!
Yvette Carol
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A great success is the cumulative effect of many small opportunities seized and wisely used. ~ Lord Wakefield
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Yvette Carol, Author 
I wish you all the luck you need. You’re absolutely right. Artificial deadlines are damaging to writers.
Great post, Yvette.
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Thanks so much, Olga. One of the reasons I’ve shied away from submitting to agents or publishers for so many years is that I resist the idea of someone else setting my deadlines, and yet, conversely, I have been completely unrealistic setting my own deadlines. Go figure, huh!
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That’s a valuable lesson to learn, Yvette. I was in a big rush to publish my 5th book before Christmas… when suddenly I pulled back and decided to do some slight revisions. Waiting is never a bad thing if that’s what your instincts are telling you. Turns out I am making this 5th book a much better book than ever I thought I could write. Happy New 5th Day. Best to you in 2023. I’m subscribed to your blog, have been for some time, and I’m here to say, Thanks! Your posts mean a lot to me.
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You are an amazing gal, Joylene. I know the way your feedback boosts my spirits and puts a smile on my face, and I’ve seen your comments on other people’s blogs doing the same thing. Keep on shining bright, my friend. Thank you for the good wishes, and may you be showered with every blessing in 2023 – incl. an updated Mac, a new fridge, etc. The 5th book sounds awesome!
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Someone once told me to figure out how long I *think* it will take to write something, then double that number. Everything in writing takes twice as long as you think it will, at least. I’ve discovered over and over again how true this is, and yet somehow the lesson still has not been learned. Oh well.
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Wow, that’s a great piece of advice. Thanks for sharing. And LOL on the “at least.” Yes, I put my erroneous deadline setting skills down to pure optimism.
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Finding balance is so hard sometimes. I have an indie publisher for my novel and it’s taken two years to finalize everything. I work, have a family, and write. I think for me deadlines help, but I work better with flexible deadlines. I hope you can keep publishing but give yourself the breathing room you need!
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Thanks, Kristina. Gosh, two years. It is amazing how much goes into producing a book, isn’t it? Congratulations for sticking it out. You’ll soon hold your book in your hands and it’s the most wonderful feeling.
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