How Do You View Your Writing Life?

by Tammy Karasek @TickledPinkTam

Most of us have heard the cliché about the issue of your glass being half full or half empty. Writing can have that same issue, or your attempt at writing that is. 

I think of the phrase—half empty—as something on the negative side. If your writing glass is half empty, you may be struggling with low confidence, avoiding the keyboard, or discouraged in your comparison of yourself in your journey to where other writers are. 

With the opposite phrase—half full—this could be a total one-eighty from the half empty. Maybe you’re quite full of yourself in your success. You’re riding high on the waves of the accolades and atta boy/girl. You’re quite proud of yourself and all that you’ve done, forgetting who gave the ability to you in the first place.

I tend to answer the question when asked if I’m a half-full or half-empty person with … I’m neither.

My writing glass is neither half full nor half empty. It’s completely empty. While other folks are arguing which is best, I have finished the liquid in the glass and jumped back into the job at hand—my writing. I’m confident, but not too much. I’m making progress in that word count, and I take time to remember who gifted me with both the words and the talent to work them into a relatable piece. 

I use His strength and power to build my confidence and charge on. Not in a bull in a china shop way of powering over people along the way to gain my success. More like a riding the wave of confidence. God called me to write so I power through. He gave me stories in my head that won’t stop. I charge to my keyboard to capture them and get them written down. I’m tenacious as I stare down those deadlines, those contest submissions, etc. I will not allow them to fill my cup with doubt, discouragement, pride or boastfulness.

It doesn’t matter whether you choose to see your writing life as half full or half empty or totally empty. My suggestion is that you contemplate the thought of seeing that glass empty because drank it all and you’ve hydrated yourself to charge after you’re calling. Continue to drink from the glass of learning to be better in your writing. One final thought—make sure you’re showing up and walking large and in charge of your writing career.

What about you? Is your writing glass empty today because you’ve balanced the positive with the negative to have a strong writing plan?

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How Do You View Your Writing Life? Insight & Encouragement from @TickledPinkTam on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Tammy Karasek uses humor and wit to bring joy and hope to every aspect in life. Her past, filled with bullying and criticism from family, drives her passion to encourage and inspire others and give them The Reason to smile. She’s gone from down and defeated to living a “Tickled Pink” life as she believes there’s always a giggle wanting to come out! 

She’s the Social Media Manager for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, Founding President and current Vice-President of ACFW Upstate SC, Founding President of Word Weavers Upstate SC. She’s a writing team member for The Write Conversation Blog, Novel Academy, and MBT Monday Devotions and others. Her work was published in a Divine Moments Compilation Book—Cool-inary Moments. When not writing Women’s Fiction and Rom-Com, she’s The Launch Team Geek helping authors launch their books and a Virtual Assistant for authors.