IWSG: Punching My Problems in the Face

~ J.S. Pailly

Today’s post is part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, a blog hop where insecure writers like myself can share our worries and offer advice and encouragement.  Click here to find out more about IWSG and see a list of participating blogs.

Over the last few months of Insecure Writer’s Support Group posts, I’ve been telling you that I’m struggling with certain real life problems (without going into any specific personal details, of course, because this is still the Internet).

In January’s post, my muse came up with an interesting solution to this: use writing as an excuse to just not deal with real life stuff. And that worked, sort of, for a while.  But you know how real life problems are.  They don’t just wander off and bother somebody else when you ignore them. They nag you… and nag you.  And in turn, that makes writing harder.

After March’s post, I started doing better, thanks in large part to all the encouragement I got from IWSG members and all my regular readers. By April, I was starting to worry less about real life and more about writing, and for the first time since I’ve known her, my muse had something insightful to say about the business side of writing (and also art) rather than just about the craft of writing itself.

So now it’s the beginning of May.  I suppose I could tell you how I’m doing right now, how well writing is going, and how optimistic I feel.  But you know what?  I think I’ll just let this drawing speak for itself.

Not my finest work of art, I admit, but that may have been the most satisfying, most therapeutic drawing I’ve ever done.

30 thoughts on “IWSG: Punching My Problems in the Face”

    1. Thanks! I feel like I’m getting back in control of my life and my writing, and it’s a good feeling. I just hope those problems don’t start punching back again any time soon.

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  2. I can imagine how wonderfully satisfying that was to make! I tend to hide away in my stories when real life gets hard too. I suppose it’s what we writers do. Glad to hear you’re doing better. 🙂

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    1. Thank you! Yeah, I tend to do that as well: hide away in my story world. Writing can make it easier to cope with real life stuff, but this time around, it was too much. I couldn’t hide, so I guess I had to come out swinging!

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  3. I love it! Hell yeah you should punch your real life problems in the face! You’re quite a talented artist 🙂 Good luck with your writing. It’s really very cathartic, isn’t it?

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  13. Children are encouraged to express their feelings through art. Most psychologists will tell you to channel your inner child to help resolve frustrations and difficult emotions. There you go, you are now being emotionally productive 🙂 Writing is also art. I like that you have been able to write as a distraction from real life rather than the usual opposite. Sometimes you just need to check out of life for a while, let the problems simmer without stress, then look at the life stresses with fresh eyes. And a stronger heart.

    Love the drawing. I need that in my work room instead of the “bang head here” advice, lol.

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    1. I had honestly forgotten about that, that art therapy is a thing. I’d read about it once in reference to Carl Jung and/or Joseph Campbell. I guess that is basically what I’ve been doing.

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  14. Congratulations! It’s great when writing triumphs over real-world problems. Too often, I let those issues keep me from writing. I need to be in a good mental state to do my best.

    Hope the year keeps getting better for you.

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    1. Thanks! Yeah, I think part of the lesson I learned from all this is that I need to be in the right mental state. I can force myself to write, but that doesn’t produce the best results. Not if I’m worrying about too much other stuff.

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  15. I love that your muse is cheering in the background…well, either your muse or a positivity fairy making you feel good about hitting those problems where it hurts! Nice drawing – I usually bury my head in the sand, but facing things head on is more satisfying, especially when echoed with a chorus of ‘kapow!’

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    1. I think muses and positivity fairies are probably the same thing. Honestly, I should have faced my problems head on from the start. That would’ve saved me a lot of time and anxiety.

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