IWSG July: Wedding Panic

Hello everyone! It's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post - once a month, writers from around the internet get together to encourage and cheer each other on. This fantastic group was set up by Alex J. Cavanaugh - if you'd like to find out more or sign up, check out the official IWSG website.

I have a confession to make: I haven't done any writing since my last blog post. In all honesty, trying to learn a new job and organising a wedding has been taking up all of my time lately - I've barely had the time to stop and breathe, let alone write. Which although makes me a tiny bit sad, at the same time, I don't really mind because I know after my wedding/honeymoon I'll once again be free to write as much as I like at nights. And I. Can't. Wait.

I've already had several breakdowns over the wedding - if you think it's all made up about how a bride bursts into tears because some tiny insignificant detail isn't right, or she threw a hissy fit because the shoe shop where she ordered her shoes from didn't get them in the right size - trust me, it's all real. But it's probably not because the poor girl is a bridezilla - she's probably just extra stressed because of all of the extra demands being laid on her, and she doesn't know what she's doing but everyone is expecting her to be in control, and her mum won't stop talking about the wedding even though there are 1000 other things on her mind too. And don't even get me started on the cost of a wedding - despite trying to keep to a budget, somehow costs just keep spiralling (guys if you're wondering what job to do next, I seriously recommend starting up some kind of wedding company...).

But I digress - the main point of this point is to a) reassure everyone that I'm still alive, b) apologise to those of you who have been in touch lately but I haven't replied - I'm not ignoring you, I'm just trying to do 100 things at once and c) to let you guys know that although this post isn't about writing (again), I'm going to just be visiting blogs this week and trying to spread the writerly love/cheer. I seriously can't wait for this month to be over so I can get back to some kind of normality. On the plus side, I'm still thinking/dreaming about my characters amongst all the mayhem, so when August rolls around, I'll be able to dive straight back into writing once again.

Have you ever majorly stressed about your wedding? Or your writing? What are your writing insecurities this month?

July IWSG: Procrastination station

Welcome to this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group!

IWSG was set up by the fantastic Alex J. Cavanaugh (you can view his blog here) and the group now was it's own awesome website here. Go and check them both out, now! Or y'know, once you've finished here ;)

I know, I know, I'm a day early, but if I thought that if I posted now, I'd have time to actually take a look around all the other brilliant writing blogs out there tomorrow, and offer some encouragement to all you other lovely writers!

I don't actually have anything specific to blog about this month, but I thought I'd share something interesting I've discovered about myself this month anyway.

So, for the past few weeks I've been working on my novel idea, and I'm pretty excited about this one. For once, I don't find it hard to write – I'm simply enjoying the process of writing it. But I have noticed one thing – if for whatever reason, I don't get to work on it for a day or two, I do find it much harder to get back into the swing of writing when I do open it back up again. I procrastinate like crazy...and yet, when I do finally get to work on it again, I don't want to stop!

I guess it's like any hobby you do – when I started learning guitar, I remember my guitar teacher telling me to keep my guitar out somewhere where I'd see it, so I'd pick it up, and practice more. At first, I didn't believe him but I soon learnt that, actually, it was true – if my guitar was out on display, I was much more likely to pick up and strum away than if I'd had to get it out of it's case every day.

And I think the same applies for my novel. So instead of just having it on my computer, and procrastinating whenever I think about loading it up, this month I'm going to be thinking of ways to keep it 'out in the open' – whether that's blogging more about my progress, never shutting down my computer, starting a notebook with all my notes about the novel in (this is actually my first novel that I haven't done this for), or just listening to music and thinking about ideas for the next scene – I'm determined to keep this novel visible, so I don't forget about it, even for a day.

How about you? How do you keep writing instead of procrastinating? And I'd love to hear if any of you are working on something that you're so enthusiastic about too :)!

Happy writing!