I feel a little nervous and timid popping in a day late with this. Yet I've wanted to do a post for the IWSG for a while now, and I've always used the excuse that my Wednesdays are taken up by my Wicked Wednesday posts. It's an excuse, not a valid reason.
I do that with my writing too. I find excuses not to do certain things. Like I don't finish revising something because I don't think I could find a publisher for it with the story's weirdness. Or I retire a novel because it was rejected too many times. I tell myself it's best to work on something else instead. I have several novels written, but most of them are just sitting there collecting dust. I'm old, especially for authors in my genre, and there's so much age-ism out there.
All those are excuses and they're holding me back. The real reason why I hide behind excuses: I don't think I'll ever be good enough. I know that if I work hard, revise and edit, polish up my stories, I can leave those excuses behind. It's a lot harder to actually get over that hump than it is to say it.
I'm starting small. I'm self-publishing this year. I'm giddy and scared about it. But it's a step in the right direction. I think... I hope. Right?
