Here I am. Reporting for my first blog post, fresh from my inaugural Restless Writers meeting. The meeting was everything I hoped it would be – a great opportunity to get to know these awesome ladies better and to take in some of their honest feedback on the pages I submitted. While I survived their critiques (this was managed largely through consumption of wine and baked brie), as the newbie to the Restless Writers, I have to admit I am struggling with a dash of self doubt about whether or not I have the writing chops to be a part of this group.
Beckie has an agent—a real agent. And I didn’t even know what an em dash was until Maria told me. Heck, I thought em dash was spelled “m” dash until I just looked it up online two minutes ago.
The good news in all of this is? I’m fairly sure I am not the first new want-to-be writer to feel this way. In 2010, The Guardian ran a two-part feature where they asked famous writers to share their Ten Rules of Writing Fiction. I was particularly drawn to the cheery wisdom imparted by British novelist and journalist Will Self
. Will says:
“You know that sickening feeling of inadequacy and over-exposure you feel when you look upon your own empurpled prose? Relax into the awareness that this ghastly sensation will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful and publicly lauded you become. It is intrinsic to the real business of writing and should be cherished.”
If this is true, I guess I am well on my way to becoming a writer.
Thank you Restless Writers for the warm welcome. With your mad grammar skills I’ll be mastering the in’s and out’s of em vs. en dashes in no time. And if not, I’ll fake it.
Andrea
bjas
Sharon
Maria
We’re so happy to welcome you as a Restless Writer, Sharon! I hope you enjoyed your inaugural meeting–I certainly appreciated your critique. Here’s to us helping each other become better writers.
Great post, Sharon ! We all gotta start somewhere 🙂 We’re happy to have you join the group, here’s to more critique sessions, and wine and brie of course. Welcome to the club.
Wait. Wine and brie?
What?
Oh right. I was going to say that if a sickening feeling of inadequacy is the hallmark of a writer, then I have arrived. HOORAY!
Nice to meet you, New Girl. I mean Sharon. I mean, I like brie, too.
Welcome! I just followed Sharon on Twitter. When will the Restless Writers meet the Wordbitches again? Maybe we need another tweet-up!
We are very much overdue for another tweet-up! It’d be great to get an update on all your projects, hope the agent-thing is treating you well It is a lot of work, but I know for me, it has been a gigantic blessing!
A new Restless Writer! Very cool. 🙂
So I’m supposed to cherish that sickening feeling of inadequacy, eh? sounds fun — I’m in!
Hey, new Restless Writer!! I agree…wordbitches-restless writer Tweet up ROUND TWO!
And yes…inadequacy? Check.
Welcome New Girl!!! Sorry I’m so late to this party. Looking forward to hearing more from you Sharon. You must be appropriately kooky in order to hang with the Restless Crew. 😉