#IWSG May 2025: Writer Fears

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting! Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

The awesome co-hosts for the May 7 posting of the IWSG are Feather Stone, Janet Alcorn, Rebecca Douglass, Jemima Pett, and Pat Garcia!

The following link will allow you to peruse everyone in the Blog Hop.

Link | IWSG Blog Hop Participants 

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May 7 question - Some common fears writers share are rejection, failure, success, and lack of talent or ability. What are your greatest fears as a writer? How do you manage them?

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Hello, friends!

I feel like I blinked and April was over. I also feel like a lot of stuff happened but also nothing at all.

My big task for April was rewriting my holiday romance that is on submission from third person past tense into first person present tense.

You may be asking, now Rosie, why would you do that? Why would you rewrite an entire 90k word novel and change both the POV and the tense without an editor asking you to?

Well... I have a few reasons. I've been thinking about it for a while, honestly, but kept talking myself out of it because it was a big undertaking. It was the single most tedious edit I have ever done, and I have done a lot of edits. Once I got into it, I remembered why I hadn't done it yet and had told myself "If that's the only hurdle to a book deal, then I'll agree to do it."

But, as I've gotten more rejections from publishers, heard whisperings about editors only interested in first person romance, and know that my next contemporary romance, SportsWIP, is also in First Person Present Tense, it just seemed like it was time.

And honestly, once I got into the edit, it really came together, getting more into my main character's voice.

I posted this example with some thoughts on Instagram last month: Revision Example

It shows both the original text, the change to first person without changing anything aside from the tense/POV, and then the change with more voice.

It only took me three weeks to do the rewrite, but that was with some serious hyperfocusing. I stepped away from it for a week and I'm about to go back through it again to polish it up. I had two amazing people agree to read it quickly to basically comb through behind me to make sure I didn't miss any POV/tense changes.

So that was my big project for April. Once I get the polishing done, I'll send it off to my agent and we're going to go out with another round of submissions and update any open ones with the option that it's available in first person.

Aside from that, I did actually write a 6000 word short story for an anthology call and got that sent off. It's very niche, so if it doesn't get accepted, I'm not sure what I'll do with it. Probably hang onto it and wait for the opportune moment for it. That's the issue with writing specifically for a call. If it never sells I might eventually turn it into a longer work and just publish it myself.

I also sent out a horror story I've been trying to find a home for over the last year to a few calls that only open about once a year, so I guess I've got about eight open short story submissions right now.

My edits on SportsWIP came back a couple weeks ago. Once I get the polishing done on the holiday romance update, then I've got to jump into SportsWIP and figure out what to do with it. I don't want to fully rewrite it, but I definitely need to restructure it some because it's clear that the conflict is too split across the book and needs to be focused in on more. Which maybe will help me focus the word count. It's sitting around 103k right now and I need to get it closer to 90k.

One of my favorite things I did last month was a new blog post book review and Interview with the Author! I've been so lucky to meet amazing authors on this journey and, while my blog doesn't get the most traffic, I'm happy to offer a space to chat about their books and about writing.

Last month was debut author Lily Parker and her book The Best Wrong Move that came out from Choc Lit, an imprint of Joffe Books. You can read my review and interview with Lily Parker at the following link.

Link || Book Review Lily Parker The Best Wrong Move

This month, I plan to interview my agency sibling Linny Mack whose debut romance novel Changing Tides released yesterday.

May Question

Today's question asks: - Some common fears writers share are rejection, failure, success, and lack of talent or ability. What are your greatest fears as a writer? How do you manage them??

What a question this is, y'all. Whew. Heavy stuff ahead, just FYI.

Honestly, I think I'm living in my greatest fear right now. Being on submission is hell. You jump out of the Query Trenches and into Submission Hell. This waiting and lack of knowing and constant rejection is just... a lot. It really wears a person down.

You get the rejection. You get the fear of failure and the feeling like you are currently failing. You get the imposter syndrome and that voice in your head telling you that you suck and no one wants to buy your book especially with every rejection you get that cites that your book just isn't "unique" enough or "fresh" enough or can't "stand out in a crowded market" and you question why.

Why isn't it those things? Why can't it stand out? Why does no one want it? What makes it that way? What can I do to fix it? Is it hopeless? Does it suck too much? Am I a hack? Should I give up?

And those questions just keep coming and spiraling because you don't ever get clear cut answers. It's always vague and it's always the same and you don't know whether to take stock in it or not, but it still hurts. Even for someone as tough as me who has spent a lifetime being rejected, as a musician, in theatre, in relationships, by jobs.... I've got a thick skin. I compartmentalize well. I shrug it off and move on and say it wasn't meant to be and that my time will come. But when it doesn't stop coming, it beats even the toughest person down.

It makes me second guess myself. Doubt myself. Doubt whether this path is really for me. I don't like that. I try my best to live a life of no regrets, and I don't like feeling this way. Thinking I should've just self-published last year or I should've taken the small press offer I got right before I signed with my agent. I wonder why I'm putting myself through this and where it's going to get me and if it's going to be worth it on the other side, if I ever reach the other side.

The traditional publishing industry is wild right now. I won't say too much about the economy and stuff, but it's not a secret that publishers are seeking shorter books and are concerned about the cost of printing. Everything is expensive and everything is uncertain, even the publishing industry. Things are happening slower, more cautiously. Digital first and print-on-demand is finding a bigger foothold. Publishers are often buying rights to already successful indie books and putting them in print basically to give the author wider distribution and not take a gamble on a new book or a new author without an audience. I think we're in the middle of a shift in the industry. Who knows when it will settle back out, but it sure makes being on submission right now even more difficult than it might've been pre-2020, or even 2022/2023. I've heard from people who have been on sub during all those times and sold books then that right now is just... different.

So yeah, all that to say that I think I'm currently living in my biggest fear and it's a cyclone of all the major issues we face as writers.

What am I doing about it? Just trying to stay strong, leaning on those around me, seeking out confirmation that I don't suck and I shouldn't throw in the towel, and keeping on keeping on with writing new words and revising old ones until I can't anymore or I decide that basically working this second job with hopes of getting a payout one day isn't feasible anymore.

I'm not really sure what else there is to do.

I know this isn't the most upbeat, hopeful post, but it's kind of where I'm at right now. I have been doing so much, trying to get somewhere, and most days I just feel like I'm treading water and barely keeping my head above it. And as someone who absolutely has a fear of failure, this is one of the most anxiety-ridden places I can be.

But trying to get published is like playing the lottery. There's a lot of luck in it---right desk, right time---and if I don't play, I can't win. So here I am for the time being.

Thanks for stopping by!

Let me know in the comments how your April was and what you're working on, or feel free to comment on my word soup about the monthly question.

Looking forward to traversing the blog hop this month.

Be sure to see my links for other places to keep up with me online and sign-up for my newsletter! I promise I won't spam you. I don't even have an onboarding auto-welcome post set up yet, but I am working on a reader magnet.

For now,

Rosie J.

Link | Rose on Twitch

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