Optional Question:

How do you define success as a writer? Is it holding your book in your hand? Having a short story published? Making a certain amount of income from your writing?

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I don’t know about you, but writing in August hasn’t been quite as successful as I wanted it to be. In other words, I have written less than planned, which includes not working on my novel and canceling a #WritersLifeChat (last week).

That doesn’t mean I’m not a successful writer, though. To me, success isn’t determined by my ability to produce words… (Ummm… that’s exactly what writers are supposed to do…)

Here me out, please. I’m still thinking about my writing. I’m still turning my story over in my head. I know that when I sit down to work on that novel, I’m going to be productive because I have figured out so much of it without lifting a pen.

I’m still considering changes. Somewhere amidst the characters rewriting their lines, I’m figuring out how it would all work as a different genre (from paranormal mystery to magical realism). One major plot hole is even slowly closing up.

I’m not writing right now (#LifeHappens), but I am still considering myself successful. Success isn’t tangible to me; it’s a mindset.

Obstacles…

Life is full of obstacles that want to inhibit my feelings of success or ability to write. I will not let them change my mindset. When I do get back to my writing, I will be that much more ready.

How do you push through the obstacles of life? What does success look like to you?

This post is part of the #IWSG (Insecure Writer’s Support Group) founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh and cohosted this month by Rebecca Douglass, T. Powell Coltrin @Journaling Woman, Natalie Aguirre, Karen Lynn, and C. Lee McKenzie. The purpose of IWSG is to share our own fears and struggles in order to help encourage ourselves and other writers. Click here for more information, to continue hopping through other posts, or to join in!