Skip to main content

Insecurities in writing

Captain's Log, Stardate 10.31.2005

Happy Halloween! I'm filching--er, giving away candy at the front door to all these kids. (The Butterfinger Crisp bars are GOOD.)

I just emailed Dee about something that's been bugging me--as I do the rewrites for my suspense, I'm feeling insecure. I got great feedback from Wendy and those authors' scoresheets, so I know what I'd like to do, but I'm having a hard time feeling confident that I can do it.

Please, no fuzzy-wuzzy cyber-hugs or anything like that. This isn't something I need encouragement about. I need to sharpen my focus, sift through all I've learned from books, articles, and workshops. Most of all, I need to pray.

I know my insecurity often comes from Satan. I give in too easily. I was even expecting it, ever since the ACFW conference. I can't shake it. It's like flapping your hand to get gunk off your fingers, but it's too sticky to let loose.

I need to trust God, who has my writing career in His hands, after all. If I'm not ready, I'm not ready. I'm okay with that. I have to trust God to help me with this, it's not something I can do on my own.

Comments

Praying for you, girl. You'll get it done.

Oh, and Heather says I should smack you upside the head. You better keep an eye on me Wednesday.

Mwah ha ha ha!

LOLOLOLOL
Anonymous said…
sheesh the woman rats me out.

Praying for you. You know I believe you can do it. (If you don't know that, where the heck have you been? LOL)

"fuzzy-wuzzy cyber-hugs"

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Unknown said…
A fuzzy-wuzzy cyber hug? Sheesh, what IS that? LOLOL Sorry, you know I'm not into the whole mushy touchy stuff! LOL But I AM praying for Him to guide you to where HE wants you to be.

I don't think we're REAL writers if we aren't insecure. Some of the "big" writers still battle with it. I think as Christian writers, we're even worse. I mean, truly, how do we do justice to HIM???? I think we just have to listen to His voice in our stories and be obedient in how we respond.

And buckling down and tackling a project where you know you need to tighten, hone, etc, can be daunting. But you're on the right track...praying for His guidance. Don't worry, toots, I'll be storming the throne room on your behalf as you are His obedient servant.

No hugs, but how about a smiley? LOL :)
LaShaunda said…
Hi Camy,

No hugs I promise. LOL!

I feel insecure every other month. Its crazy, but I guess it goes with the territory.

I have a bad episode right after a rejection or reading a good book. I'm like I'll never be good.

Then I tell myself, sure you can, like you said. You get better as you learn.

So keep learning,

LaShaunda
Anonymous said…
Camy, definitely a topic on my mind today... I'm in the same boat. Praying for you.
Sharon Hinck said…
Hey, Camy!
I'm in the same boat today.
I got a crit about "saran wrap" between the reader and the character. What an apt way to put it. But as I study the chapter, I don't know HOW to get rid of that barrier. And I'm reading a book by an author I love who has NOOOO barriers. I'm right in the head of the protag. So I'm feeling SUPER inadequate.
Hang in there! Sharon

Popular Posts

Window shopping

Captain’s Log, Stardate 03.14.2005 Knee update: I went to the doctor today for a checkup, and saw his assistant. I’ve been concerned because there’s still inflammation in my knee joint, and it’s been almost 4 months since the surgery. She said she’d talk to the doctor about it tomorrow and call me. Sometimes he suggests laying off the PT to see if that causes the inflammation to go away, but I don’t know if that will work because lately I’ve been pretty active outside of PT. At PT today, the therapist did ultrasound and some sort of electrical current on the joint. Hopefully that will make the inflammation start to go down. I’ll know by tomorrow, probably. Writing: Mt. Hermon conference starts this Friday! On Thursday night, I’ll be at the Santana Row Borders bookstore to help out (and hopefully learn a bit, too) at a booksigning for several of the ACFW authors who are attending Mt. Hermon . That should be lots of fun. I had a good brainstorming time at ...

New book idea a la Captain Caffeine

Captain's Log, Stardate 04.14.2009 So my husband, Captain Caffeine, had lunch with a few friends a few days ago. And they asked about my writing, and if I’d been on Oprah yet. (Yeah, right) They then discussed NYT bestselling books, and why can’t Camy write a NYT bestseller. (Sure, let me just open a vein over a blank page and it’ll come right out.) So Captain Caffeine came home with ideas for my new NYT bestselling novel. First it starts with vampires, because Twilight is so hot. But not just any vampires. This one’s an Amish vampire. And he’s not just an Amish vampire, he’s a cop in disguise, infiltrating the Amish community to protect a witness. (Hmm, that storyline sounds familiar ...) But wait! There’s more! To add more conflict and stick with my brand of Asian fiction, we introduce the Tibetan monk! Who joins the Amish community to get away from the pressures of monkhood. But in reality, he’s protecting the Chinese princess on the run, trying to escape from her father’s Hong...

Japanese language learning process in more detail

I blogged a few weeks ago that I’ve jumped back into my Japanese language learning after being lazy and letting it slide. I’ve been keeping my Japanese language study habit for about a month now, and I wanted to blog about my process in more detail. One thing I had noticed about my Japanese is that I tended not to do it if I left it to do at the end of the day. I realized that it was just like my exercise—if I didn’t do it first thing in the morning, it never got done. So I started doing my Japanese right after my exercise in the morning. I treated it like one of my “frogs,” as I read about in the book Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time . The book is based off of a Mark Twain quote: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” It suggests doing your “frogs”—your important things that you’re likely to procrastinate doing—first thing in the morning in order to get it done, and ...

Chinese Take-Out and Sushi for One

Captain’s Log, Supplemental My agent sent me an article from Publisher’s Weekly that discussed this incident: Chinese Take-Out Spawns Christian Controversy And here’s also a blog post that talks about it in more detail: The Fighting 44s This is Soong-Chan Rah’s blog: The PCS blog In sum: Apparently Zondervan (yes, my publisher), who has partnered with Youth Specialties, had put out a youth leaders skit that had stereotypical Asian dialogue, which offended many Christian Asian Americans. In response to the outcry, Zondervan/Youth Specialities put out a sincere apology and is not only freezing the remaining stock of the book, but also reprinting it and replacing the copies people have already bought. I am very proud of my publisher for how they have handled this situation. The skit writers have also issued a public apology . (I feel sorry for them, because they were only trying to write a funny skit, not stir up this maelstrom of internet controversy. I’ve been in youth work long enou...

I sold to Steeple Hill!

Captain's Log, Supplemental Remember that romantic suspense proposal I blogged about earlier? Well, it just sold to Steeple Hill’s Love Inspired Suspense line! I am so jazzed! I am beyond jazzed! The story’s working title is Sinister Spa The story's title is Deadly Intent and here’s a blurb (but it’s probably not what will appear on the back of the book): Massage therapist Naomi Grant could use a massage herself. With her father at home recovering from a stroke, Naomi is put in charge of the family’s elite day spa in Sonoma county. The new responsibilities sit awkwardly on her shoulders, and things only get worse when handsome Dr. Devon Knightley breezes into the spa, demanding to see one of the female clients. And the woman is found dead in Naomi’s massage room. Suddenly, Naomi is a suspect and her family’s spa is shut down. How could God let this awful thing happen? Devon only needed to see his ex-wife about a family necklace she still hadn’t returned, but when she dies and...