What are you afraid of?

I was at my fortnightly writers' group last night and, as well as chocolate cake and the new Whittaker's L&P White Chocolate, we shared short stories written for the group. Talk about scary! It is one thing to write to complete strangers and bear reviews of any kind – it is another thing altogether to read your brand new – just wrote five minutes ago – story to real live people you are just getting to know.

Every time you meet someone new, you make some amazing judgements about them in the first few seconds of meeting them. And they you – whether they realise it or not. Likewise, people make some amazing judgements on you as a writer and it all happens on your first story... ok so I just made that up, but it sure feels like it could be true. Insecure much? Ahhh, yeah!

We are talking about reading, aloud, to people who are going to critique your work to your face... Good Lawd! Ok, so the whole exercise reminded me how I need to get tough and suck it up princess.

I love my writing. I love my creative thought processes. I enjoy my unique style. I want to share my new fantasy and sci-fi worlds to other geeks just like me. And I love that I need to use “Rhyme Zone” to get my poetry to rhyme. I love, LOVE sharing my writing to the world. Should it really matter if I care what other people think? Should I get upset if I think they write better than me, or if I rely too much on my internet connection to make the story work? Should I be worried if, on my first draft, I don't have the 'voice' quite right for the character? What if the world of the story isn't believable? What if I come across sounding like a dork, an amateur, or a complete dope. Ah, too much to worry about.

Gosh for a newbie writer you would think I'd jump at the chance to work on my skills in a very public way that is my fortnightly writer's group... Oh wait, I am.

Moral of the story – writers write so readers can read. What are you afraid of?