My weeks are starting/ending on Thursdays currently. Which makes no sense to anyone but me, but hey it's my life. Today I am 16 weeks pregnant, every Thursday I get to tick another week off and that's pretty cool if you ask me. Yesterday I thought I felt it moving, which was also pretty darn exciting. 24 weeks (theoretically) to go!
I didn't get any of the writing done that I wanted to yesterday, but I did tick some other important things off the list. I paid the power bill (very important), vacuumed the floor (also really important, the place looks so clean now), and reviewed a short story by K, which has inspired me to see if there is anything around I think I can submit to the BNZ short story competition myself.
Which in some ways seems a little off to me - not the competition in any way - but there is a part of me which says 'hey no, you can't submit anything, you've looked through K's and so that just wouldn't be right.' This was the main reason I didn't submit anything to the Six Pack earlier in the year (Note to K: don't even for a second feel like that's your fault! it's my issue lol). It feels like cheating or something, lol which is so high school right? I've helped other students with their assignments in Uni and never once thought of it as cheating, we've always picked different topics and such anyways. K and I write differently as well, so it shouldn't be a problem, and I guess if everyone wasn't submitting to places other people they know submit then there wouldn't be a lot of submitting going on. And I in no way, shape or form think my writing is better than K's, so realistically I think my chances at actually winning anything over her are very slim - it's just the fact that I've seen her story, I gave her my thoughts and feedback, and despite the fact I think that her writing is better than mine, I feel like I should not participate.
Does anyone else ever feel like this?
All my issues aside though, I am pretty sure she would be telling me to do it, as she is a wonderful person who is so supportive and encouraging of people pursuing their dreams and getting their work out there. You'll never succeed if you don't try.
I'll have a look through anyway and see if I think anything is relevant, there may not be and then none of this will matter.
Except that I think it's important to address one's issues, this is an issue of mine and by talking about it and making it public it forces me to really explore what is going on and I'll be better off for it. I'm never going to get anywhere in the writing world if I am always worrying about the other writers I know and how they might feel if we end up submitting to the same thing - I know I would be thrilled for them if that was the case and they actually succeeded where I did not, so I guess I can only hope that they would feel the same way for me if the roles were reversed.
I didn't get any of the writing done that I wanted to yesterday, but I did tick some other important things off the list. I paid the power bill (very important), vacuumed the floor (also really important, the place looks so clean now), and reviewed a short story by K, which has inspired me to see if there is anything around I think I can submit to the BNZ short story competition myself.
Which in some ways seems a little off to me - not the competition in any way - but there is a part of me which says 'hey no, you can't submit anything, you've looked through K's and so that just wouldn't be right.' This was the main reason I didn't submit anything to the Six Pack earlier in the year (Note to K: don't even for a second feel like that's your fault! it's my issue lol). It feels like cheating or something, lol which is so high school right? I've helped other students with their assignments in Uni and never once thought of it as cheating, we've always picked different topics and such anyways. K and I write differently as well, so it shouldn't be a problem, and I guess if everyone wasn't submitting to places other people they know submit then there wouldn't be a lot of submitting going on. And I in no way, shape or form think my writing is better than K's, so realistically I think my chances at actually winning anything over her are very slim - it's just the fact that I've seen her story, I gave her my thoughts and feedback, and despite the fact I think that her writing is better than mine, I feel like I should not participate.
Does anyone else ever feel like this?
All my issues aside though, I am pretty sure she would be telling me to do it, as she is a wonderful person who is so supportive and encouraging of people pursuing their dreams and getting their work out there. You'll never succeed if you don't try.
I'll have a look through anyway and see if I think anything is relevant, there may not be and then none of this will matter.
Except that I think it's important to address one's issues, this is an issue of mine and by talking about it and making it public it forces me to really explore what is going on and I'll be better off for it. I'm never going to get anywhere in the writing world if I am always worrying about the other writers I know and how they might feel if we end up submitting to the same thing - I know I would be thrilled for them if that was the case and they actually succeeded where I did not, so I guess I can only hope that they would feel the same way for me if the roles were reversed.
1 comment:
You are exactly right about what I would say! JUST DO IT! I'll even review the story for you. :)
Writers are all working within the same industry and particularly in New Zealand where there aren't as many opportunities as elsewhere we are all submitting to the same competitions, agents, editors and publishers. It really is just part of the job. The main distinction comes when writers focus on a specific genre. That's where writers of different genres will be going for different opportunities.
Good on you for posting about the issue you have and wanting to work through it. :)
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