SWRT 233 | When Your Writing Sucks

December 16, 2021

person typing on MacBook Pro on brown wooden table during daytime photo

Have you ever wondered if your writing sucks? We’re all plagued by doubt sometimes. And other times the work just doesn’t flow. This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida, Robert, and Kathryn ask themselves what to do if your writing sucks?

We start off with a questions one of us may have been pondering before the call and weave our way through possible causes and solutions to this most troubling and amorphous craft question: does my writing sometimes suck?

If you ever ask yourself this question, you might be a candidate for coaching. Group coaching begins in 2022 for fiction and nonfiction writers. Listen and follow for more details. What is coaching? Learn more at www.WordEssential.com/editing/coach.

VIDEO

AUDIO

SHOW NOTES

What we talked about:

Why are we talking about our writing being terrible? (0:35)

What do you do when it doesn’t match your vision? (3:25)

How can you keep your creativity alive? (6:04)

Don’t be afraid to move on to the next thing! (11:00)

Don’t be afraid to experiment! (15:35)

LINKS

Get Alida’s Writing Tips here.

Things we mentioned:

The Van Gogh Alive Experience

Have thoughts, questions, other examples? Join the conversation at the Story Works Writers Facebook group.

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About Your Hosts

Alida Winternheimer is an award-winning author with an MFA in writing from Hamline University. She pursues her fervor for all things story as a writing coach, developmental editor, and teacher. Three times nominated for the Pushcart Prize, she is also a notable in Best American Essays and winner of the Page Turner Award. Author of The Story Works Guide to Writing Fiction Series, Alida lives and writes in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She camps, bikes, and kayaks in her free time. Unless it’s winter, in which case she drinks chai by the fire. You can find more at www.alidawinternheimer.com.

Kathryn Arnold writes fantasy and anything else that sparks her creativity from her home in Kingston, Washington. She currently earns her living as an insurance underwriting assistant, where she also creates marketing and web copy. When not writing, she plays (and teaches) piano and keyboard in a band (or two), and is working on starting a ministry team with her husband. You can find Kathryn at www.skyfirewords.com.

Robert Scanlon was born in Australia, but whisked off to England when only a baby. After many years complaining about the weather, he did the sensible thing and moved back to Australia. Despite a career in the music industry, followed by decades teaching public speaking, Robert is an introvert who adores reading. Robert grew up on a diet of sci-fi masters, eventually discovering he had read the library’s entire science fiction section. Now he has to write his own. Robert is the author of Constellation, book one of the Blood Empire space opera series. Find out more at www.RobertScanlon.com