Wednesday, August 5, 2015

August IWSG

Welcome to my August post with the Insecure Writer's Support Group!  For those of you who don't know, the IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh as a place for writers to express their worries and doubts and to encourage one another.  We post the first Wednesday of every month.  Feeling insecure? Join us!

This month I'm still feeling insecure about time, and I don't think that insecurity ever goes away.  In relation to that, I feel insecure about networking and keeping in touch with people.  Time has not always been the underlying issue.  As far back as my teen years, when I had plenty of time to squander, I have never been very good at correspondence.  When I moved from Arizona to Oklahoma at the age of 13, I had a lot friends' addresses (back in the age of snail mail) and I only managed to keep up with one friend for about two years.  I email my closest cousin about once a year.  I sometimes manage to call or text one of my best friends who lives far away once a month if she doesn't contact me first.  The only people I keep up with properly are those I see in person on a regular basis.  This "problem" does seem to be spreading into my blogging and social media habits and I feel bad for not responding as quickly as technology would allow me to.  I think it's a mixture of time, procrastination, and perfectionism that hinders me in this area.  I do want to make kind, informed comments on the blog posts I read, so I feel the need to read others' posts thoroughly, which takes time on some of the longer posts.  I don't allot myself much time beyond writing my posts and there are certain times of the days when it's easier to concentrate on what I'm reading.  As I look back at what I'm writing today, it does look like one big, long excuse, ha ha.  But really, this is more of a self-evaluating psychoanalysis.  If I could just get to the root of this problem, I could better myself and my relations with other people, and ultimately, be better prepared for networking and marketing my own books someday!

FYI: This has been more of a rant on myself and my own habits.  It's not exactly an insecurity as much as it is an annoying habit that I want to work on changing.  I will strive to utilize my time more wisely and stay a bit more caught up this month.  I will tell you how it goes in next month's IWSG post :)


What are you insecure about this month?  Do you ever have a hard time keeping up with people?

20 comments:

  1. Oh, I'm terrible about keeping up with people. Unless I make a concentrated effort to contact and reply to people on a regular basis. Same goes for social media-ing, blogging and so on. I'm not the type to do these things automatically. I have to remind myself to take a few minutes or whatever every day to do it. It's the same as developing a writing or exercise routine. It doesn't always come naturally so you have to train yourself to get into it.

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    1. You're right, it does take daily reminding myself and training. I need to just make it a habit by adding into my routine.

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  2. I do better keeping up with people on social media and blogging than in "real life." Maybe that's because I'm introverted and its easier to type on a computer screen than talk with someone face to face. I think we all do struggle with time management too; trying to be as productive as we can in the hours we have to do so and still allow the time to just "chill."

    betty

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    1. Betty, I'm introverted too and it is usually easier to express myself in writing. I do spend too much time just "chilling" and I probably could utilize it more with my blog if I would just make a more concentrated effort.

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  3. I think, if we all were as honest with ourselves as you have been, we'd realize we're all pretty bad about staying in touch. We have lost the art of letter-writing which was so important a form of communication back in days before telephones and the internet. In truth, if each of us ends up with 2 or 3 really close good friends in our lives, we're blessed. The rest are acquaintances. We do need to nurture those who are close to us though, we do need to give back. The isolation one feels is directly related to how much or how little one give of him/herself.

    Bish, your co-host, #128 on the Alex Scale

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    1. Bish, that is very true! In relationships, we only get what we put in, and my few close friends are very dear to me. Thanks for co-hosting this month!

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  4. I post simple stuff, so feel free to leave a simple comment. I won't mind!
    I do better keeping up with people online than I do in the real world.

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  5. I feel ya. I have the same issue. Sometimes it feels overwhelming trying to keep up (especially Twitter where I epically fall behind and get lost). It's always been a problem for me - I had the same snail mail experience when I moved cross country at like 11. :/

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    1. Madilyn, Yes, I miss letter writing to some extent, simply because you weren't expected to keep up daily (or sometimes hourly), lol :) And as for Twitter, I am not yet participating and I hope to avoid it as long as possible!

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  6. Hi,
    Stop beating yourself up. There will be times when you can post more if you want to, so don't make it compulsive where you feel like you have to do this and that. You need to be a gentle friend to yourself.
    Shalom,
    Pat Garcia

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  7. I am okay at keeping in touch, but I'm the kind of person who can only maintain close friendships with a couple of people. I don't worry about the people who are more acquaintances. (That's what Facebook is for!) And I do enjoy blogging, but I don't feel bad if I can't comment right back on someone's blog if life gets busy or if I need to take a blogging break. Give yourself grace.

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    1. Jenni, I guess I was comparing myself to others too much. We all have our own schedules and I'm still learning to balance it all. Thanks for the encouragement and the follow :)

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  8. I am really bad about this. If I don't see someone face to face, I don't think to utilize all this handy technology to stay in contact. And that's if I'm not actively avoiding it.

    So the good news is you're not the only one guilty of this.

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    1. I am pretty good with texting, but I sometimes allow Facebook and blogging to fall behind. And there have been a few times I've intentionally avoided Facebook.

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  9. Would it help to know that you aren't alone? I need to spend more time networking, but, like you, the way my day is built up that can be hard. Especially when you are trying to read blog posts well and write good comments. Hopefully you will be able to conquer your time issue soon. In the mean time, just know that I am right there with you. :)

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    1. Mandy, thanks for the encouragement, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one :)

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  10. I'm fairly bad at keeping in contact with my friends too. I haven't kept in touch with any of my friends with school, or ones I know from work. I'm making a special effort to keep in contact with other writer friends over social media, but I have to keep pushing myself or I'll let things slide. So you're not alone in this.

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    1. Ken, I'm the same way, I have to push myself to get anything done, not just keeping up with comments :)

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