Feeling Fragile

I work with many writers going over their work and helping them to make it better. No matter where they are in their development of craft they express doubts on their abilities. I feel part of my job is to boost their confidence by showing them where they have done well as well as encouraging them to strengthen the parts that still need revision.

Despite the fact that my second novel is about to come out and my first novel has just appeared on Amazon.de with a wonderful cover, I have been going through a period of fragility where my writing is concerned.

The novel I am working on (temporary title -- Triple Decker) is developing, I am finding twists and turns in the plot that seem right, the characters are deepening, but the writing is still uneven. Some 60,000 words into it, I know I some parts are working well, but in others I haven’t found the words I want to weight the text. Considering I only started the novel when I was in Boston at the first of the year, I should be satisfied, but I was beating myself up over it.

Enter the Geneva Writers Group stage left. This group has nurtured me for well over ten years with monthly lessons and moral support. Unlike many writing groups, there is no room for backbiting thanks to the leader Susan Tiberghien.

If I had not let myself miss March’s session, I suspect the confidence crisis wouldn’t have occurred.

As I waited at the bus stop I ran into another writer who I have coached and who attended my workshop on Freelance Writing. She thanked me because of some advice I had given her and told me as the result of an article she had placed an editor had called and she ended up writing six articles for the magazine with more on order. I felt slightly better, even though this was more a comment on my editing and teaching skills, where I wasn’t suffering a confidence crisis.

Then we went into a master class on character. The teacher had come to Geneva from the States and as he talked, I felt the surge that I so often feel during these sessions. In a writing exercise I was able to write a segment that went to the depth that I wanted to go. This does not mean the novel is anywhere near to finished, but thanks to the session, I can sit at my computer with a renewed attitude.