Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to
share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of
appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer
assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG
is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank
you to co-hosts for this month: Shannon Lawrence, Olga Godim, Jean Davis, and Jacqui Murray! For links to all
contributors, click here.
Confession. While I’m good at putting appointment reminders in
my phone, I rely on the email prompt administrators typically send out a week
before our monthly IWSG posting date. This morning I walked three miles, ate
breakfast and started reading the news before realizing today is the first Wednesday
of the month. I checked my email and found the reminder that arrived yesterday
afternoon. Oops. So what you are getting here is a totally off-the-cuff post, published
prior to noon, instead of my typical 6:00 am.
This month’s optional IWSG question: Is there anything in
your writing plans for 2026 that you are going to do that you couldn't get done
in 2025?
As it happens, I’ve known for two months about a class focused
on creating novel submission packages. It’s going to be offered once in 2026,
for five weeks during January and February and the deadline was December 31. To
bring you up to date, I started querying my novel last summer, got my first
round of rejections and decided to rewrite my query. I got no further than that.
The objective me thought this might be a good time to take
the class.
But the subjective me (read that as, the chicken ****
me) kept finding excuses not to act. It’s by Zoom and I hate online classes. There
will be a follow-up class offered in March and I’m going to be away. Money isn’t
really an issue, but I wondered if it was a good time to spend it right after
the holidays.
But here’s my real reason for delaying.
I’m scared. Taking it will mean I’d have to follow through
and I’m afraid to find out my query stinks, or worse, that my book, the fourth
one I’ve written, stinks more. Yes, I’ve had readers and editors, but still, I suffer
from a mega case of imposter syndrome, posting like a writer here on IWSG for
so many years. The truth is, I’m terrible at marketing myself, great at giving
up, and suspect I may be a half-good writer who’ll never publish a novel.
Chances are this fourth novel is my last.
Say that ten times fast. Chances are this fourth novel is
my last.
Thankfully, that particular phrase circled in my brain as I sat
down at my laptop on New Year’s Eve and remembered the deadline for signing
up for the course.
Nothing like backing up against a proverbial wall.
I made it with a few hours to spare.
Class starts Saturday.
Wishing you all a happy and successful 2026.
