The Importance of Squeeing #WotF

Balancing Out A Writer’s Life

Squee: (verb) To squeal with glee

Do you squee? Or does it irritate you to the point that you loathe those who do? Believe it or not, but there are some who’d like to remove the word from the world’s vocabulary by decree!

But I still squee. And I believe it’s important to do so too. Let me tell you why…

Pain.

Through great pain comes great art.

It’s a maxim I adhere to in my own writing. It’s also what I teach writers further behind me in their own writing journeys. If you can access the pain of your past (which we all have), and turn it into something beautiful / thrilling / entertaining, then I believe you’ve succeeded as a writer. You’ve vanquished old ghosts. You’ve cut your veins and bled them onto the page. You’ve reached inside and shared what you found there.

Of course, if you want to write great art all the time, this means you’re constantly dealing with sensitivities, insecurities, shame and secrets. It’s not easy! It’s also not balanced.

Life is dark and light. Life is pain and joy. So this is where, as a writer, squeeing can come into play.

I run a writers’ group in Manly, Sydney, and every month I ask my members to tell me about their writing achievements, so I can post them on our website. It takes a lot to coax the information out of them, but not because they’re shy. It’s because they each have an ultimate goal in mind and, in the scheme of that goal, any other achievement seems insignificance. But those achievements most certainly are not insignificant. They are your journey – and your journey matters. This is something I’m still learning myself.

Every writing achievement, whether it’s a runners-up prize or a shortlist, is something to celebrate… and enjoy. It’s true that winning feels mega-good. But coming close is good too – because it means exactly that. Your writing has quality, it has form and flows. It appealed to the judges – they enjoyed your story! Heck, doesn’t that mean that your writing is on target, that you’re up there with the best of them?

Focusing too much on your ultimate goal can mean missing out on enjoying your writing journey as you travel it. Whereas sharing your achievements as you earn them not only feels good, it can also bring you encouragement from others – encouragement that will keep you going through those self-doubt battles all us writers suffer.

So, for the self-doubt that lurks inside us, and to balance out the pain we strive to access and share, it’s important to squee when you can.

Squee, I say, squeeeeeeee!

Squee like no one is watching!

Semi-finalist in the Writers of the Future contest! Squee!

To get you started, here’s something I’d like to squee about…

The internationally prestigious Writers of the Future contest has just made its official announcement about their first quarter standings for 2013. Representing the Southern Hemisphere, I ranked semi-finalist. Hundreds entered. I got up there – the only Aussie this time around.

Squeeeee!!