Category: IWSG

Insecure Writer’s Support Group – New Year, New Things

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle9 Comments

InsecureWritersSupportGroup Get the prelims out of the way, #IWSG is here to help! Check out our co-host, Gwen Gardner, Dolorah, Sarah Foster, and M. Pax! Visit and show some love to our fearless creator, Alex J. Cavanaugh. Check out some of the other group member’s post and help them out.  As the new year starts, I find myself discovering new thing about writing.

  1. I am doing a rewrite of a novel that I finished (67,000 words) back in 2013. Rewrites are hard.
  2. My novel sales can go from a steady few books sold a day, to crickets in a matter of weeks. Selling books is hard.
  3. I took the entire month of December off and getting back to work took longer than I imagined. Staying on task is hard.
  4. I had two of my beta readers read the final book in my series, Hope for Us and they loved it. Finding people who support my writing is amazing and makes all the hard stuff worth it.

I welcome any and all advice on dealing with 1-3. For all those writers out there, if you have #4, cherish it. If you don’t, send me your MS. I’ll support you. 🙂 lotus

Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle36 Comments

I took a few month’s off, but now I ‘m back and as insecure as ever. 🙂

My short bio:  Sydney Aaliyah Michelle is a Contemporary Romance writer, a voracious reader and movie fanatic who hails from Texas. After surviving 5 1/2 years living in China, she had the courage to finally pursue her passion and become a writer.

InsecureWritersSupportGroupHuge thank you to our awesome co-hosts for the January 7 posting of the IWSG, Elizabeth Seckman, Lisa Buie-Collard, Chrys Fey, and Michelle Wallace!  I also wanted to say thank you to Alex J. Cavanaugh for creating a safe place for those of us who need help. 

I have a painful/agonizing/gut-wrenching/creativity-stifling case of ENVY! I know, it is so unhealthy, but I can’t help it. It started early last month when I punished myself by stalking some new releases, all who out performed my new release. Everywhere I turned, it seemed like people where hitting that top 100 list, author’s were releasing their 8th/12th/ 20th novel (I’m on my 3rd).  Books in my genre where out selling me left and right. I even found a new adult sports romance debut novel that was blowing up the charts while my third new adult sports romance novel is basking in mediocrity.

Don’t get me wrong, I am happy for each and every author who is successful doing what we do. I want all of us to be a success, but my mind hasn’t been in the right place lately. HELP!!!!

Am I a terrible person? How do you get over envying other people’s success?

Click here and visit the other blogs in the group.