In this post I'll be addressing the May 2021 edition of The Insecure Writer's Support Group and tie that in with my Reflections on the 2021 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. Yeah, everything is connected--or at least I can find a way to connect one thing to another. It's the story of life...
The Insecure Writer's Support Group
Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog.
The co-hosts for the May 5 posting of the IWSG are Erika Beebe, PJ Colando, Tonja Drecker, Sadira Stone, and Cathrina Constantine.
May 5 question - Has any of your readers ever responded to your writing in a way that you didn't expect? If so, did it surprise you?
Unexpected Reactions
When I was taking fiction writing classes in college I poured so much into the stories I created that I regularly thought that I had created a masterpiece that my professor would rave about. Well, he might have raved sometimes, but not in the positive ways that I had expected. That's what writing professors are supposed to do I guess. And more likely I was too invested in my own sense of genius and a bit blinded to the fact that my writing needed more work. Why should have I expected otherwise? My professor was supposed to instruct and guide me and not be an adulating fanboy.
Other than teachers, my writing didn't fall into the hands of many readers other than close friends and few of them read much of my writing. It was not so much any fear of mine that they might say something bad about my writing, but it was a simple matter of getting them to read anything I had written. Besides, I wasn't especially pushing my writing on others.
After I discovered that blogging would be a way of putting my writing out in a public way where I might find an occasional reader of my work, my blog became my forum for presenting what I had created to others in hopes of getting some kind of reaction. Mostly I received positive comments and encouragement that made me want to keep writing. No longer did I have to submit writing to publications that would end up sending rejection letters. I could just write what I pleased and my work would be out there for public consumption and I might get some nice comments now and then.
For the most part it's been all well and fine and blogging continues to provide us all with a platform to present our words as we want to say them. Unfortunately there is such a strong divide within society about this or that and some people get so disturbed about reading anything other than opinions they share. This has presented a problem for a blog like mine which by the nature of the title Tossing It Out suggests that I will be presenting my opinions and views about just about anything. And that's the course I set out upon from the beginning.
I've lost readers because of certain opinions that I've shared and at times those readers have departed with nastily deprecating comments as they faded off into their own corners. We live in odd times of "I'm not gonna be your friend anymore" not just because of differences of opinions, but more due to a belligerent attitude of not even going to listen to the other side if it doesn't agree with one's own opinions.
Writing is all about opinions and an author expressing those opinions. Whether it be fantasy, romance, mystery, or whatever the genre an author injects themselves somehow into the story which means an author's opinions and views about life and the world are mixed up in all that conveyance of the thoughts and imagination of a story being told. Sure, that's my opinion, but I don't see how it could be otherwise.
Expectations are figments of our own minds. They are often shattered as we are directed toward a greater reality--whatever reality is. When I'm pouring myself into my writing I sometimes get a sense of the exhilaration that I am going to change the world--or some small portion of it--with the genius of my words. I am my own biggest fan until my words hit a different fan. Reality sets in. The clarity of my writing becomes muddled in the confusion of differences of opinion that result in a negativity towards me or my ideas or my writing.
In the end, it's all okay. Writers have always had their critics as well as their fervent admirers. That is how it should be and likely always will be--at least I hope. In today's world many are quick to cancel, censor, or criticize depending on a writer's opinions. At least give a fair hearing of what a writer has to say. The beginning of a story is not the whole story just as the end of the story makes little sense if you don't know what came before.
Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2021 Reflections
As Frank Sinatra once sang: "It was a very good year".
Not that 2021 has been all that great, but it sure beats last year. I think that would my summation of A to Z as well. I barely remember A to Z 2020, but that year is a big blur for the most part anyway. The baloney pandemic hit my life at an okay time since I am retired and mostly stay home anyway, but still it was all absurd. But that was then and this is now, which is kind of like then but with some kind of hope ahead. I guess.
You'd think that me being retired would mean that blogging would be all that I have to do. Apparently not though since these days I'm a rather half-hearted blogger. Like the last few Challenges, I fell way short of making rounds to other blogs or even devoting much time to my own posts.
Nevertheless I'm happy with my 2021 posts on Rivers of America. I actually learned a lot in my research and my readers seemed to enjoy the series. The idea for this theme kind of seemed to come out of nowhere. When I suggested my theme in my March Reveal post I wasn't even sure where I was going with it. So a few days before the start of the Challenge I started coming up with river thoughts in an A to Z fashion. Through the month of April I basically wrote my posts anywhere from a few days ahead of time to the night before the post was to go up. As they say, I winged it. Or floated it or whatever.
And so I'm done. Great job me and everyone else that I was keeping up with.
Don't forget to check the
Blogging from A to Z Blog for the survey which will help us in the future and for other fun things coming up. If you haven't gotten your T-shirt to display your A to Z bragging rights you can find info on how to obtain one.
Thanks to everyone who played along and hope you'll be back for the 2022 Challenge!
