A Penny for Your Thoughts: Bound, Gagged, and Stuffed into a Trunk

Last week, I was invited to Skype into Dr. J.’s writer group. The ferocity of our combined energy caused funnel clouds to appear in my area, but hell, what fun it was!

Last week the talented Dr. J. invited me to Skype into her writers group get together. You have no idea how excited I was to peek into the life of an actual writing group that meets on a regular basis, works together, helps each other, and even teaches each other tips and tricks. I don’t have a local writer group. I’m sure if I looked hard enough I could dig one up, but I’m happy with the way things are right now.

Dr. J. did a presentation on SEO, making writing contacts, #BookMarketingChat, and how all of these things made her a better author and how she gained viewers because of the contacts she made. It was so much fun learning all the various things she involved herself in to make more contacts, get more readers, and how it all measured up.

Andrea Patten did a presentation on blogs – showing different ones in order to give people ideas on how they can customize their own design. During her presentation, she talked about inner critic voices, which made me laugh. It was this that gave me the idea for this post because the thought “I bound, gagged, and stuffed my inner critic into a trunk.” popped into my head.

It reminded me of the Native American story people have passed around the internet since its inception about Two Wolves (and, of course longer verbally). One wolf is darkness, hate, greed, and selfish while the other is light, love, compassion, and giving. The wolf that survives inside you is the one you feed. Which is why I bound, gagged, and stuffed my inner critic into a trunk and locked it away.

Yes, I do occasionally doubt myself and my skills, but my friends remind me of all the good things I’ve done and will do. Their sentiments help me feed my muse. I listen to my muse because she (or occasionally he) has excellent suggestions that make you squirming, begging, readers. And I love it when you beg me for more.

So, remember, my lovelies, feed the good side. Find friends that cause interesting weather patterns because you all get worked up into a frenzy. And remember to laugh because life is too damn short to be miserable.