I'm Co-Hosting IWSG & You Watched "Look Up" yet?

Aloha,

Many people may think the rest of this sentence is an oxymoron, but I'm co-hosting the Insecure Writers Support Group today.

 (I am, of course, the current holder and multi-year winner of the CROW award, [Comments Rarely-Obtuse Writer] but I'm delighted to assist Alex, the founder of IWSG, and his ongoing mission to give back and pay it forward.

My co-hosts today are Joylene Nowell Butler, Elsie and Lisa Buie-Collard, and together we are your honorary Cavanaugh Clones-for-a-day.

Getting the chance to wear a prototype IWSG uniform was a surprise, too!

Opening the box, the garb was instantly dubbed "The Cloniform."

(I was nearly rendered unconscious as I battled against the glare of the 100% polyester, '80s era McDonalds-style shirt and pants.)

However, wearing the Cloniform (complete with its big Rush*Really*Rocks logo above the heart) got me to the [twilight] zone as I prepared to zap around the blogisfear and interact with long-timers and newbies alike.

By the way, Alex, my uniform was a bit tight around the waist and the "HELLO, My Name is ________ badge fell off, but I stapled it back on.

(The blood above my formerly coconut-bra-ensconced chest slowed - eventually - to a slow dripping, but I don't know what to do with the Cloniform... I may have destroyed its aesthetic appeal...)

Anyway, before I zip to my zooming, guess what? I don't have any new insecurities.

Cue 19-second video:

PS: If you want some bonus positive thoughts flowing your way, check out this video below.

Since its release, two weeks ago, about 20 million people have watched this five-minute clip. If you haven't seen it yet, I hope you can take a moment to hear a special poem - and catch a unique message.

I am 100 percent secure in saying this - if you do watch, it will make you at least think about powering down on social media...

Happy IWSG Day to everyone... and don't forget to look up :)

Emergency Mid-Month IWSG post

Aloha,

Hi, I’m Mark and I’m a Writer’s Blockee.

It’s been three months since my last written pages.

I’ve tried many remedies, including cutting back on blog posts and return comments (sincere apologies to all who made the much appreciated effort to comment) but nothing has worked.

Unimproved graffiti will be removed by Wed., May 7

 

Therefore, I am invoking the oft-pondered, rarely used, but terribly needed Mid-Month Emergency Insecure Writers Support Group post.

I’m a Writer (with the big “W”) these past eleven years, but always for someone else.

Now, I’m writing for myself, but Muse is taking a whupping from another voice, my Lose.

Lose encourages me to check (and recheck) email, do the laundry, read the news, catch up on the Angels, (fall asleep in front of the computer) and do everything but WIP during my nightly two-hour writing window.

A lot of this sounds familiar to some and folks may want to leave a supportive comment (which again, I *do* appreciate, but remember, I suck at the returns – unless it’s on Twitter… you can't beat 140 characters with a stick.)

And here, hidden in the middle of my humor, is the problem.

Actually, I know what the bloody problem is: I’m too damn scared to write for ME.

(There. I feel better already... really needed to share that with you!)

So, I have a problem... now to find a solution...

Write 1,000 words a day.

Oh, that was easy - who said that?

Hold the therapy.

Like most writers reading this, there is nothing more I want to do (professionally) than know people enjoy my words – and when I am writing, there is nothing I enjoy more than melting into The Zone.

So, what’s the problem, you writerly wimp?

By the way, Lose, the anti-muse (we’re related on my mother’s side) is a former U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor I’ve never met, but his heart is in the right place.)

Aloha, Lose... Er, I’m scared that I suck worse than a giant gobstopper.

Bollix, blogger. You can do it.

Can I quickly check see how many people unfollowed me in the last seventeen minutes?

NO! Drop down and give me 1,000. You wussy writers are all the same. No SPAM in the can.

What does that even mean?

I don’t know. You just made it up.

I did?

You’re so insecure that my Grammar could kick your arse.

Okay, I can do this. I can, and I will.

Good, because I don’t like that I’m hanging from a cliff like a dangling modifier.

The happy.

What?

Nothing.

Okay, then. Good luck.

Ahh, thanks, Lose... you're not so bad after all.

I’m welcome.

[Bursts through mental barrier…] I look at Muse as if we were one...

Then, some upbeat music starts and I free the Muse (using a yard blower to dust him off) before offering up a CliffsNotes energy bar.

Later that week, the former Lose was offered the chance to be a contestant on Dancing with the Stats. As he left, he offered the brain one final thought:

“Let’s. Write. This. People!"

(To Be Continued...)


 

IWSG: I'm NOT Ready for A-Z yet... And more stuff like that!

Aloha,

Once again, the Earth has rotated upon its axis enough times that is again the first Wednesday of the month.

This means, of course, it’s time for another episode of Insecure Writers Support Group, hosted by the one and ugly, er I mean only Alex Cavanaugh, he of the Irish clan Mc’Cavanot-got-a-hyperlink-augh.
(They were a rowdy bunch who lived in the countryside, but today there is only one known picture of their tribal leader...)

Anyway, where was I? 

I’ve got three quick points this month, which is wonderful because I'm working hard to control my verbal diarrhea :)

Photo Credit: by mimg.ugo.com

 

 (It’s amazing what a little less salsa and a little more Tums © can do to one’s esophagus – and there I was thinking that an “esophagus” was the imaginary friend of Big Bird on Sesame Street.)

 

 

 

 

·         Am I the only one who is insecure that it's March already?

Beware the Tides of Marraige?

      It seems to me the slower it takes to remember stuff, the quicker the year goes by…

     

     And, now that we're here on Oahu, people keep telling me to beware of the "Tides of March," but I was standing on the beach for hours the other day, and no-one seemed willing to point me in the right direction.
(Except for this one fellow wearing a bed sheet and carrying a big dagger... but I didn't like the look of him... he talked funny...)

 

·         The A-Z challenge is coming in about three weeks, and I’m so not ready! I have the banner >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>(But I'm so insecure... what am I going to talk about?)

 

I’ve made lots of files, with pretty names, colors and they are all neatly dated – and all nearly deleted, too.

The only good news is that I roll well when it comes to deadlines, so I hope this will be the case as March, well, marches toward April… yikes :)

 

·         My final issue is perhaps a bit weird or quirky.
BEFORE I write in response to most every post, I seldom read the comments above me because I worry I'll be influenced and my thoughts will be “watered down.”
Is that bad?
Am I a bad blogger?
I am... I know it...
I don't even have "A" for A-Z done...

 PS. I want to wish everyone an early and happy St. Paddy's Day, so in honor of you, my fellow insecure-ee, I leave you with this kickin' song by Frou Frou:

Trust me, if you’re feeling down, worried or insecure, there's no harm if you just let go J