Wednesday, March 7, 2018

#IWSG for March 2018

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is the brilliant idea of Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the group is to share doubts and insecurities and to encourage one another. Please visit the other participants and share your support. A kind word goes a long way.

This month's awesome co-hosts are: Mary Aalgaard, Bish Denham, Jennifer Hawes, Diane Burton, and Gwen Gardner!

This month's optional IWSG question: How do you celebrate when you achieve a writing goal / finish writing a story?

For the longest time, every book I've finished, I've celebrated by making cookies. When I get near the end of a book, I'll buy the dough and let it sit in the fridge. It's great motivation to keep me chugging through to the end.

If I'm having a tough writing day, I will motivate myself with a chocolate or two. 500 words and then I get that candy! Yes, I'm easily trained.

I think celebrating reaching your goals is so important. It doesn't matter how you do it. Writing is hard work, and sometimes there's no one else around that knows how tough it is or to cheer you. This is why we must celebrate ourselves. Bonus: when you're feeling happy, you get all those happy chemicals released in your brain and you feel even more inspired!

My insecurities: My current WIP keeps getting bigger and bigger. While this is thrilling in a way, I do wonder if it will be too big and thus lose all its power with that size. Am I putting too much time into things that won't matter at the end? But it all goes together... somehow. I think! Hopefully when I finish it and send it along to my CPs, they'll let me know if it is too long.

IWSG newsletter news: Have you subscribed to the IWSG newsletter yet? We have helpful articles and links, and a featured industry guest each month. For March, we have Janet Hise who is a writer that helps other writers achieve their goals.

If you're an IWSG member and you have some news you'd like to share with the group, drop me an email at christinerains.writer@gmail.com and I'll put it in the newsletter.

74 comments:

  1. Food is always a good reward! I'll probably make some cupcakes if I ever finish my third draft.

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  2. Chocolate and cookies - great way to celebrate!

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  3. How am I not surprised that you celebrate with cookies? LOL. Perfect choice! ^_^

    And how exciting about your WIP! Big or not, I'm sure it's shaping itself into exactly what it needs to be. Good luck wrapping it up!

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    1. Thank you, Heather. And yeah, I didn't figure cookies would be a surprise with me. :)

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  4. Cookies are a great reward and that's great how you leave the dough in the frig as an incentive. Good luck with your current project.

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    1. Thanks, Natalie! It drives me bonkers seeing the dough sitting there and wanting it yet not being done. Heh.

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  5. I like cookies!
    Maybe you're just writing something epic?

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    1. I'm sure the villain believe he's epic and that's what's happening. *LOL*

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  6. I love how you've "trained" yourself! :)

    I like what Alex said about maybe you're writing something epic. I'm worried my WiP is too short and getting shorter....

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  7. Cookies & chocolate. Nothing better! I wouldn't worry too much about the size of your story. Once you've finished, you'll be able to see the big picture. Then you can figure out if it is an epic (like Alex suggests) or if there are side threads that don't contribute to the whole. Good luck.

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  8. Mmm, cookies! That sounds like a good way to celebrate. And your CPs will let you know if the story is too long (I doubt it is).

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    1. I think my CPs will be happy with just more Erin and Abdiel. ;)

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  9. You're right. You can always cut some of it out later if your CPs think it's too long.

    Cookies sound like a great reward.

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    1. And it's lunchtime now. Cookies are good for lunch, right?

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  10. Oooooo...that sounds like a wonderful idea, especially since I crave sweets!!!

    At least your muse is working long and hard for you. Keep up the good work!!

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  11. Oh, cookies! Me want cookies. Maybe I can retrain myself with cookies.

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    1. I don't know about you, but it was quite easy with me. *LOL*

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  12. Hi Christine - you're tempting us all with cookies ... way too early here! Good luck - you've obviously got the rewards set out! Cheers and now to finish that draft - Hilary

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    1. Thank you, Hilary. And it's never too early for cookies! :)

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  13. Excitement over anything can go a long way. I need better rewards for myself. I've realized over the last year how important it is to celebrate our accomplishments.

    I wish I had a too many words problem! It's so much easier for me to find things to cut than find places to add things.

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    1. Everyone needs to celebrate. It does help a lot.

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  14. Cookies sound like a great reward to me!

    I suggest trying not to worry too much about your WIP's word count, especially at this point. You'll probably cut more than you realize in the next draft...I know I did. :)

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    1. Yes, I'll probably cut stuff, but stressing is part of the job, right?!

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  15. I like your motivation and reward program :-) I don't have enough willpower to only eat chocolate after I hit a particular goal though.

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    1. Note that I didn't say how many cookies or chocolate I ate. ;)

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  16. 500 words and you get candy? Sounds like positive training principles at their best. Sadly, I don't have much of a sweet tooth. For me, it would have to be something salty. Thanks for the post, and happy writing to you!

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    1. My hubby goes for the salty stuff too. Thanks for popping by! :)

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  17. I love your reward program. I'd over eat if I tried that, though.

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  18. Cookies and chocolate are good motivators! I make our chocolate cookies from scratch, so there is nothing in the fridge to entice me... We always have Belgian dark chocolate around, though. :-)

    I should take your advice when it comes to celebrating. I don't do this enough, because I really want to earn it by finishing a big project.

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    1. Oooh, cookies from scratch. Delicious! I don't have the patience for that, but I love homemade goodies.

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  19. I like your approach. Surely, every 500 count. They deserve a piece of chocolate.

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  20. I like cookies. Too much. Better too long so you can snip and snip than too short.

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    1. They should make special writer chocolates with word count numbers on them!

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  22. Baking is such a wonderful way to relax. Now I'm thinking original Tollhouse cookies! As for the growing word count - I don't think any of it is wasted, even if it gets edited out in the end. You need to know things that your readers may not.

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    1. Tollhouse, yum! And yes, that's true about the word count.

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  23. I completely agree. Celebrating each step of the process is important, and awards are great motivation.

    I definitely need those happy chemicals to feel inspired.

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  24. I shall borrow your mode of celebration-- just replace cookies with cake! Nothing relaxes me more than the smell of baking :)

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    1. Mmm, cake! I have my hubby's and son's birthdays next month. So there will be two cakes!

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  25. Ooh, cookies sound like a great way to celebrate! I agree that rewarding yourself helps with inspiration.

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  26. I'm a mega cookie fan. Maybe that should be my treat on publication day. I get a milkshake when I finish the first draft of a novel, but hadn't figured out a reward for my book birthday.

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    1. I like the milkshake idea too, but that means I'd have to go later when my hubby returns home with the car!

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  27. Mmmmm, chocolate. Trouble is, I'd eat them all before I got started.

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  28. I think I need to learn from your example and reward myself more often. I might get more done!

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    1. You definitely do! Squirrels use up a lot of energy. :)

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  29. Congratulations on finishing. I go for chocolate but cookies sound great too. Happy IWSG day.

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  30. I love the cookie idea. Having that dough in the house would be perfect motivation. :)

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    1. I feel like I've been trained by Pavlov sometimes! *LOL*

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  31. If Alex is right and it is epic--then two batches of cookies. :)

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  32. I'm always up for cookies. I'm visiting IWSG blog posts today; cookies will help get me through my day :) Its too cold to do anything else.

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  33. I'm all for rewards, especially if it's chocolate. I'm sure your current project will end up being just the right length it needs, but I understand the worry when it seems to be growing so fast. Critique partners are brilliant when it comes to that sort of thing. Where would we be without them?

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  34. I need to celebrate more. I used to. It is a great incentive. My WIP seems to keep growing, too, and I seem to be writing slower by the week.

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  35. Who doesn't love cookies? Sweet treats work very well for me too. I don't think it's a bad thing that your book is getting long, it's better than struggling to hit the word count and you can always cut bits out later.

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  36. Alright, cookies! I'll be sure to come by when you reach your next literary milestone:)

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  37. It's fun reading how everyone celebrates completing something. I'm boring. I don't celebrate at all. I just go on to the next project.

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    1. I move on to the next project too, but fueled by cookies!

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