Jan Morrison

Howdy folks! I missed last month but I'm back for this one.
Don't forget to go to the Insecure Writer's Support Group page and check out other writers and their insecurities!

 In their own words: 

Purpose: 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 safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!

December 4 question - How would you describe your future writer self, your life and what it looks and feels like if you were living the dream? Or if you are already there, what does it look and feel like? Tell the rest of us. What would you change or improve?

I'm sitting at my desk, looking out the window into the woods. I have a deadline of January 1st to finish one complete draft of my novel to send to an editor who will then do an analyse of where she thinks I am with it. By mid-January or early February I'll start my favorite part of the process - revising. But I don't want to even get that far ahead as I have only thirty days (I'm writing this on the 30th of November) to get the plot thoroughly clear. I've had a few months to do this part (three so far) but my time has been eaten up with the buying and selling of houses, a quick and impulsive trip to Labrador for some volunteering during a crisis, and moving. All of that is over and we don't have fancy Christmases and although boxes still need to be emptied and art hung and meals made and laundry washed and friends tended and episodes of The Crown to watch - I definitely have time to finish the task - if I but submit to it. And I will dear people, I will!

I wrote the editor yesterday - a wonderful gal who heads up a company of women editors in Montreal - to see if I could extend my deadline but today I'm writing her again and asking her to ignore that request. I don't need it, I don't want it. I want to get this done so I can get on to the delicious agony of revising and then, lord, lord, the crafting of the query and submitting of same. Slow, slow, grinds this process, but I will get there!

In other parts of this dream I'm living I have had two poems accepted for publication in Grain, a Canadian literary magazine. It is so wonderful to be accepted and to know that eventually, if you keep on keepin' on, your work will come to fruition.

I don't want to project into the future - I have notebooks full of such exercises and my appetite for it has decreased as I age. I want the writing to be its own reward and to remember that writing isn't mysterious and arcane, it is an idea and some bum glue.

So now I'll go back to it! Hopefully, by January the 8th I'll be able to report that I met my commitment to myself.