8 Deadly Demons of a Writer...#3 GUILT

Today's battle is with guilt. This is not a big demon for me, but a slippery little critter that sneaks up and throws rocks once in a while. Still, the size doesn't matter, right? Ok, stop giggling. This is about writing, not snarky jokes. Oh, who am I kidding? There's always room for snark ;)

Alright, where were we? Oh yeah, we are entering the ring against our opponent of the day...

Guilt - a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined.* (As defined by Dictionary.com)


Like I said this demon is not as big as the others, but it can toss a few bumps on your path to reaching a goal. Guilt can come from many places; family, friends, work, or even yourself. When you have a lot of different commitments, like we all do, we often feel guilt when we can't be everywhere and do everything for everyone.

My guilt is self inflicted. I am thankful to have supportive family and friends in my life. They encourage my writing and all the new places it has taken me. As I mentioned in my fear post yesterday, I have always been there for my family. My work choices included places that my young children could go with me or that had same schedules as their school hours. The decision to write and pursue a possible career was the first major time commitment that didn't involve or completely revolve around them. As a mom, just making that decision took a wrestling match with guilt. How could I take time away from my kids, my husband, and other home responsibilities to write?

This becomes a harder decision when you add the fact that there is no clear cut path to this career. Even well known best selling authors and established publishing houses are reporting that it's a changing industry. It's getting tougher for everyone, except maybe Dan Brown, to get noticed. The Internet has made publishing an even playing field for all new writers, if you know how to use it, but it has also made it an infinitely larger field. That's where this career becomes even more time consuming. Not only does the writing itself take time, but now authors have to market and promote what they have written. I have been told this is true even for agented authors. The avenues, advice, and opportunities are endless on line. Each person has to decide which things to try and how much time and money they are willing to devote.

I have been lucky and blessed by the opportunities I have been given. Having a film producer consider my book for a movie is an honor, even if the network executives do not accept it. Meeting new people in the book world has been fun and enlightening. Getting to work on exciting projects, like the Nov. 13th Wine Mystery with authors Denise Robbins (It Happens In Threes) and CJ West (Sin & Vengeance) and going to signings have been great. But with these opportunities come more time commitments, which means more time away from my family. In creeps the guilt.

Hopefully, if guilt is one of your demons, it is a small one. If that's the case, you and I don't have to do much. When ever it tries to sneak up we just need to remember not to be so hard on ourselves when we can't do everything. And *poof* that little guilt critter is gone. It will be back, but we'll be ready to shoo it away again.

If you guilt is deeper and can not be shooed away with an encouraging thought you should read this article. http://cindysense.com/positive-thinking/identifying-3-types-of-guilt/ . I found it while looking for a picture to use for this blog. It lists the different kinds of guilt and how to deal with them.

Ok, now to finish off the battle with guilt. Set another mini goal for today that brings you a little closer to achieving your main goal. I am going to edit 2 more chapters of my WIP. I will do this, guilt free, no matter how long it takes me to finish.

If you missed any of the previous 8 Deadly Demon posts I have included the links to them below. Thanks for stopping by.

~Kristin : )

Intro to 8 Deadly Demons:

http://kcsbooks.blogspot.com/2009/09/8-deadly-demons-of-writer.html

Fear Post:

http://kcsbooks.blogspot.com/2009/09/8-deadly-demons-for-writer-2-fear.html