I joined Beehaw specifically hoping to get in on the ground floor of the growing writing community here, but I have to admit I haven’t had much to say.

So, for the other folks checking this community once a day or so to see what’s being posted, “Hi!”

I’m enthusiastically nearing the end of the first draft of my first novel, and pretty excited to jump into revisions once that’s done.

I aspire to be traditionally published, though I’ve heard how unlikely that is for a first novel over and over, so I’m (primarily) viewing this first novel as a learning experience, and it’s very much been one of those.

I’m interested to hear where others are at.

  •  J.B. Pinkle   ( @jbpinkle@beehaw.org ) OPEnglish
    1•1 year ago

    My contribution to beehaw so far is this comment. I have confidence issues, and have been essentially radio silent on social media for the past ten years

    Well, I feel honored that you are responding to my post! 🙂

    but I’m at a turning point in my life and writing is the only thing that makes sense I need to start now

    Turning points are precisely where you change direction in your life, so it sounds like you are doing the right thing! 👍

    I’m primarily interested in short stories which I would like to potentially narrate in the future, but I’m slowly trying to get over the confidence problem at the moment.

    While I can’t possibly know exactly how you feel or what factors may have led to this, I do somewhat understand. I had general anxiety issues and maybe a tinge of depression when I put my feet on this path. I barely touched the project for the first 6 months or more after I decided I was doing it.

    My really very amateur advice is - take positivity from everything you can. For example, what helped me was a BUNCH of honestly sort of small sounding things that seemed to bear fruit over time. Two examples -

    • I made a playlist called “Positive” and added any song to it that made me feel good. Even if it wasn’t explicitly a song about positivity - if it made me feel energized and happy to hear it, it went in. I would put that playlist on every time I sat down to write.

    • When someone crossed my twitter feed who looked like they were spreading positive feelings to people, I followed them to ensure I’d get those positive messages in my feed.

    I’d also suggest finding a writing podcast that you enjoy listening to. I’ve been listening to a few of them - at least one episode a day, and on one of them I’m about to start their back catalog for the third time. There are a lot of them out there, and they are all just a bit different from each other. One or more will click with you. It will not only educate and motivate you, but it will also help you feel more confident. Every one of these published writers that I have listened to has complained about the same feelings of doubt regarding their writing, the same difficulties with confidence and impostor syndrome, and really almost all the same problems that we beginners seem to have.

    Although I don’t intend to plug a particular one, the Writing Excuses podcast often discusses short fiction, and gives specific advice for short story writers. At least one of the regular hosts has extensive experience with short fiction. Their show is also a little bit different every season - they change up the structure of the show and have guest hosts, and other things to add variety and to cover a lot of facets of writing.

    I’m not qualified to give you any advice about how to write, but I will say this advice from B. Dave Walters is in my head all the time - I’m paraphrasing: The worst thing you write is better than the best thing you don’t write. (because it’s the only way to get better and that won’t happen if it stays in your head)

    All the best to you!