Insecure Writers Support Group

It's time once again for a meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group founded by the awesome Alex J. Cavanaugh, friend to writers and movie geeks everywhere. Here we air our insecurities, fears and other garbage that is just messing with our minds and here is also where we encourage each other, give each other virtual hugs and revel in the craziness we have embarked upon as soon as we said we wanted to be writers.

Today I'm talking about staying true to yourself, writing your story the way you want no matter what is selling, what an agent or publisher thinks is the hot tamale. So many of us just starting out are told if we want to sell, then we must study the markets, see what's hot, read the bestsellers in the genre we write so we have an idea of where to place our stories, how to brand ourselves. That's all well and good, but we also need to remain true to our writer voice, the one that got us into this crazy profession in the first place.

I was told that a first person female werewolf story would never work. It was too niche and too unusual. Female readers would never identify with a monster and well, male readers just don't skew to liking female protagonists. Whatever. I wrote her story anyway. I know a lot of women out there who more than identify with Maxie and I have to say that the men out there who have read her story have no problem whatsoever "liking a female protagonist."

So I want to encourage all of you out there to keep right on with that story you've been told is unsellable or unmarketable for whatever reason. It does not matter one wit how unusual, obscure or different it is. Nor does it matter that the market is "flooded" with vampire stories. Keep going and do not give up. This is your story and it deserves to be told and I believe that it will find its audience.

Now, I encourage you all to click here and visit more of your fellow writers out there. Here's to a productive day and rest of the week for all of us.