What Writers Fear: an IWSG post

 

      

Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means! It's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy, ideas, and networking. If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. The awesome co-hosts for the May 7 posting of the IWSG are Feather Stone, Janet Alcorn, Rebecca Douglass, Jemima Pett, and Pat Garcia!

This month's question:

May 7 question - Some common fears writers share are rejection, failure, success, and lack of talent or ability. What are your greatest fears as a writer? How do you manage them?

__________________________________________

 

This is an interesting question because I don't have a ready answer. 

 

Rejection? I'm not especially afraid of rejection--I find that the more I submit my work, the less an individual rejection hurts, and plenty of rejections have helped me by making me re-examine the work and improve it. (I have a goal this year of submitting my work 100 times in 2025 and I've already done 47, and collected 22 rejections and 2 sales so far).

 

Failure? Success? Failure and success are only partly up to me, and I've accepted that some of that is out of my control. I have hopes, but not really fears about this. I work to make my writing as strong and meaningful as it can be, and seek opportunities to get it in front of readers, but I don't drive myself crazy wondering if I'll ever make a million bucks or anything like that.

 

Lack of talent or ability? I believe in my own talent and ability, more often than I don't. (I read somewhere that a writer needs a mixture of humility and chutzpah to make it, and I always try to cultivate that balance). 

 

So what does scare me as a writer?

 

Maybe, running out of time? I have SO MANY ideas for stories, projects, series, poems, essays, books, etc. Some of them are started; others I've seen to fruition; and lots and lots of them are waiting for their moment in the sun when they become the "main project" and get my full focus. 

 

I just had a birthday--number 54, if you're wondering--and if I follow the pattern of women in my family, that gives me about 35 more years on this side of the soil. I can only take care of myself and hope that I get all 35 years and that I get them in sound mind and body that lets me continue to create. (so there's a second sub-fear: losing my cognitive or physical abilities and being unable to write).

 

That makes me a little driven. Unwilling to "waste" time. Sometimes it makes me resentful of other responsibilities (like the day job) because those are hours that could be spent developing all these ideas. 

 

So far as fears go, it's not debilitating. Just sort of …motivating. How about you? Do fears hold you back in your creative life? I'd love to hear about in the comments.  

 

 

 

 

AtoZ Wrap and Reflections:

 

Thank you to everyone who followed along with my journey through Songs of my Heart. There's an eclectic collection of music in there. Here's the list: 

 Aha Me a Riddle I Day by Laura Love

Bidi Bidi Bom Bom by Selena

Creep by Post Modern Jukebox

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Eat it! by Weird Al Yankovic

Fine Again by Seether 

Good Night Irene by the Weavers 

Hurt by Johnny Cash

I'm Shipping Up to Boston by the Dropkick Murphys

Jolene by Dolly Parton 

Karma Chameleon by Culture Club 

Lotta True Crime by Penelope Scott 

Main Character by Will Wood 

Nowhere Fast from Streets of Fire 

Over and Over by Rio Romeo 

Pa-pa-ya! by Baby Metal

Qué será será by Doris Day 

Respect by Aretha Franklin

Someone Keeps Moving my Chair by They Might be Giants

Tank! by Yoko Kanno and Seatbelts

U-Mass by the Pixies

Veronica by Elvis Costello

Wellerman by Nathan Evans

Xanadu by Olivia Newton-John

You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette 

Zombie by the Cranberries

I had a goal of visiting all the participating blogs at least once. I made it! Though there were a few I couldn't comment on--tech issues and one that didn't allow comments. It's always a lot of fun to see what kinds of themes others came up with. A few of my favorites were: 

• The trip through ms_lilli's garden at https://tao-talk.com/2025/03/25/a2z-2025-theme-reveal/ 
• Liz A.'s variety of topics and forthrightness at https://lawsofgravity.blogspot.com/ 
• Melissa's fascinating genealogy posts at https://boldandqueer.com/a-to-z-2025-challenge-theme-reveal-kin/ 
• BBCreations by BB is a lovely and eclectic set of posts on movies, music, and more. https://createdbybb.blogspot.com/
  
• reconnecting with Anne E. G. Nydam (whom I know from other parts of writer life) though her stories, poems, and art theme at https://nydamprintsblackandwhite.blogspot.com/2025/03/theme-revelation-stories-poems-and-art.html 
• Postcards from the Bookstore used word prompts to build some fantastic fiction: https://postcardsfromthebookstore.blogspot.com/
  
• and (count 'em) TWO sets of posts by Ronel Janse van Vurren: one on mythology and another on her "languishing" TBR: https://www.ronelthemythmaker.com/theme-reveal-for-a-to-z-blogging-challenge-2025/

 

Z: Zombie by the Cranberries

 Welcome AtoZ-ers and other blog friends! This month I'm participating in the AtoZ blogging challenge, and you'll see a post every day (except Sundays) about one of the Songs of my Heart. Today's edition: Zombie by the Cranberries.  (If my embedded video won't work, you can listen at this link).

 

This is one of those songs that blew me away when I first heard it. The versatility of Dolores O'Riordan's voice, going from quiet sweetness to angry growling to hiccuping accusation against that AMAZING base line. I've heard more Irish musicians since, but when this song was new, I had only hear folk ballad kinds of Irish music. I didn't even know what the song meant at first, but it pulled at something in me and made me want to stand up and fight. 

I've since learned more about the historical events she's referencing, the bombings in Ireland, and my personal belief is that the "zombies" are us--the people who know and don't do anything, who follow orders blindly. Which makes it a cogent song all over again, in my own country this time.

lyrics from AtoZ: 

Another head hangs lowly
Child is slowly taken
And the violence caused such silence
Who are we mistaken

But you see it's not me
It's not my family
In your head, in your head
They are fighting
With their tanks and their bombs
And their bombs and their guns
In your head, in your head
They are cryin'

In your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie, hey, hey
What's in your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie, hey, hey, hey, oh

Dou, dou, dou, dou
Dou, dou, dou, dou
Dou, dou, dou, dou
Dou, dou, dou, dou

Another mother's breakin'
Heart is taking over
When the violence causes silence
We must be mistaken

It's the same old theme
Since nineteen-sixteen
In your head, in your head
They're still fightin'
With their tanks and their bombs
And their bombs and their guns
In your head, in your head
They are dyin'

In your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie, hey, hey
What's in your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie, hey, hey, hey
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Hey, oh, ya, ya-a

Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge
#AtoZChallenge
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Y: You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette

Welcome AtoZ-ers and other blog friends! This month I'm participating in the AtoZ blogging challenge, and you'll see a post every day (except Sundays) about one of the Songs of my Heart. Today's edition: You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette.  (If my embedded video won't work, you can listen at this link).

 

This is best break-up song. The anger. The refusal to be quiet, to roll over, to take it without protest. The sarcasm in "I'm sure she'd make a really excellent mother." Damn. The acid. The emotion in it is what really sells it.

It's been a long time since I needed an angsty break-up song, thank goodness (my second husband has been mine for 19 years and I still enjoy his company), but I still love this song when I feel cheated or overlooked or resentful or any of those "bad break-up" kinds of feelings, regardless of context. 

Lyrics from AtoZ:

I want you to know, that I'm happy for you
I wish nothing but the best for you both
An older version of me
Is she perverted like me?
Would she go down on you in a theatre?
Does she speak eloquently?
And would she have your baby?
I'm sure she'd make a really excellent mother

'Cause the love that you gave that we made
Wasn't able to make it enough for you to be open wide, no
And every time you speak her name
Does she know how you told me
You'd hold me until you died?
'Til you died, but you're still alive

And I'm here, to remind you
Of the mess you left when you went away
It's not fair, to deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me
You, you, you oughta know

You seem very well, things look peaceful
I'm not quite as well, I thought you should know
Did you forget about me, Mr. Duplicity?
I hate to bug you in the middle of dinner
It was a slap in the face how quickly I was replaced
And are you thinking of me when you f*ck her?

'Cause the love that you gave that we made
Wasn't able to make it enough for you to be open wide, no
And every time you speak her name
Does she know how you told me
You'd hold me until you died?
'Til you died, but you're still alive

And I'm here, to remind you
Of the mess you left when you went away
It's not fair, to deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me
You, you, you oughta know

'Cause the joke that you laid in the bed that was me
And I'm not gonna fade, as soon as you close your eyes
And you know it
And every time I scratch my nails down someone else's back
I hope you feel it
Well, can you feel it?

Well, I'm here, to remind you
Of the mess you left when you went away
It's not fair, to deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me
You, you, you oughta know

Why I'm here, to remind you
Of the mess you left when you went away
It's not fair, to deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me
You, you, you oughta know

 

Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge
#AtoZChallenge
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X: Xanadu by Olivia Newton-John

 

 Welcome AtoZ-ers and other blog friends! This month I'm participating in the AtoZ blogging challenge, and you'll see a post every day (except Sundays) about one of the Songs of my Heart. Today's edition: Xanadu by Olivia Newton John.  (If my embedded video won't work, you can listen at this link).

 

 

For a little while there, when I was an older kid, but not yet a teenager, Olivia Newton-John was the it girl. I knew her from her song "Let's Get Physical" which I thought was about exercise and from her stint as Sandra Dee in the movie Grease. I remember hearing about the movie Xanadu, but no one took me to see it. The song was all over the radio, but mostly, I heard the movie was awful, and my mom was shocked that Gene Kelly was in it. 

I didn't see the movie until last year, when it came to the Carolina Theatre of Durham, renowned for its retro film series. Sweetman and I are regulars. And…it wasn't the kind of awful I was expecting. It was more a near-miss kind of thing. Lots of potential there--kind of a fun concept of the Muses coming to contemporary society and one of them deciding to inspire the opening of a nightclub: Xanadu. And this bit where she had inspired Gene Kelly's character when he was young, then came back around. But the acting is overall pretty wooden and you could drive entire trucks through the logic gaps.

 Gene Kelly could still move at age 67 though, even on roller skates. 

Lyrics from AtoZ:

A place where nobody dared to go

The love that we came to know

They call it Xanadu

(The days you cried can't be denied)

And now, open your eyes and see

What we have made is real

We are in Xanadu

(The dream in you, they offer you)

A million lights are dancing

And there you are, a shooting star

An everlasting world

And you're here with me, eternally

Xanadu

Xanadu (Now we are here)

In Xanadu (Xanadu)

Xanadu

Xanadu (Now we are here)

In Xanadu

Xanadu, your neon lights will shine

For you, Xanadu

The love, the echoes of long ago

You needed the world to know

They are in Xanadu

(The love you gave, you'll dream away)

The dream that came through a million years

That lived on through all the tears

It came to Xanadu

(The dream in you, they offer you)

A million lights are dancing

And there you are, a shooting star

An everlasting world

And you're here with me, eternally

Xanadu

Xanadu (Now we are here)

In Xanadu (Xanadu)

Xanadu

Xanadu (Now we are here)

In Xanadu (Xanadu, Xanadu)

Now that I'm here, now that you're near

In Xanadu

Now that I'm here, now that you're near

In Xanadu

Xanadu

 

Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge
#AtoZChallenge
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W: Wellerman by Nathan Evans

 

 

Welcome AtoZ-ers and other blog friends! This month I'm participating in the AtoZ blogging challenge, and you'll see a post every day (except Sundays) about one of the Songs of my Heart. Today's edition: Wellerman by Nathan Evans.  (If my embedded video won't work, you can listen at this link).

 

There was a minute during the pandemic when everyone was into Sea Shanties. Anyone remember that? Well, I still have this one on my "get stuff done" playlist. The rhythm of it is GREAT for working, which was the point. I feel like groups of men singing together don't get enough notice. It can be amazing to listen to. So sign me up for more sea shanties and more dwarven ballads from the Hobbit!

Lyrics from AtoZ: 

There once was a ship that put to sea
The name of the ship was the Billy of Tea
The winds blew up, her bow dipped down
O blow, my bully boys, blow (Huh!)

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go

She'd not been two weeks from shore
When down on her, a right whale bore
The captain called all hands and swore
He'd take that whale in tow (Huh!)

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go

Da-da, da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da
Da-da, da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da

Before the boat had hit the water
The whale's tail came up and caught her
All hands to the side, harpooned and fought her
When she dived down low (Huh!)

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go

No line was cut, no whale was freed
The Captain's mind was not of greed
But he belonged to the whaleman's creed
She took that ship in tow (Huh!)

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go

Da-da, da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da
Da-da, da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da

For forty days, or even more
The line went slack, then tight once more
All boats were lost, there were only four
But still that whale did go (Huh!)

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go

As far as I've heard, the fight's still on
The line's not cut and the whale's not gone
The Wellerman makes his regular call
To encourage the Captain, crew, and all (Huh!)

Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go  

Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge
#AtoZChallenge
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V: Veronica by Elvis Costello

 Welcome AtoZ-ers and other blog friends! This month I'm participating in the AtoZ blogging challenge, and you'll see a post every day (except Sundays) about one of the Songs of my Heart. Today's edition: Veronica by Elvis Costello.  (If my embedded video won't work, you can listen at this link).

 

I'm a little hit and miss with Elvis Costello. When I'm in the right mood, his hipster vibe and snarky attitude work for me. When I'm not, it's less fun. But I nearly always like this song when I hear it. 

The height of my enjoyment of Costello's music was his Mighty Like a Rose album, smack dab in the middle of my college years. This one was recorded in the later 1980s, so a bit before that album. 

Revisiting it now, especially with the video, it strikes me very differently, with commentary on aging and losing you used to be. But at least the singer remembers who she was and misses her (even if he's a little patronizing about it with that "pretty little head" nonsense). 

 Lyrics from Elvis Costello Wiki:

Is it all in that pretty little head of yours?
What goes on in that place in the dark?
Well, I used to know a girl and I would have sworn that her name was Veronica
Well, she used to have a carefree mind of her own and a delicate look in her eye
These days I'm afraid she's not even sure if her name is Veronica

(Chorus:)
Do you suppose that waiting hands on eyes, Veronica has gone to hide?
And all the time she laughs at those who shout her name and steal her clothes
Veronica
Veronica
Veronica

Did the days drag by? Did the favours wane?
Did he roam down the town all the time?
Will you wake from your dream with a wolf at the door, reaching out for Veronica?
Well it was all of sixty-five years ago
When the world was the street where she lived
And a young man sailed on a ship in the sea with a picture of Veronica

On the "Empress of India"
And as she closed her eyes upon the world
And picked upon the bones of last week's news
She spoke his name out loud again

(Repeat Chorus)

Veronica sits in her favourite chair, she sits very quiet and still
And they call her a name that they never get right
And if they don't, then nobody else will
But she used to have a carefree mind of her own, with a devilish look in her eye
Saying "You can call me anything you like, but my name is Veronica"

(Repeat Chorus)

Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge
#AtoZChallenge
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