12 Comments
author

Thank you for sharing. I’m so glad you persevere and continue to pursue your passion!

Expand full comment
Sep 7, 2022·edited Sep 7, 2022Liked by Lorelei Jonason

As writers, we're often inundated with negativity. I'm glad you haven't let it overwhelm you. I always think that if YOU enjoy what you're writing, none of the other stuff really matters...

Expand full comment
Sep 7, 2022Liked by Lorelei Jonason

Fantastic story of your internal struggles with writing and how you overcame it. I'm happy that I decided to read your newsletter this morning. I'm also on Substack but have been inactive for quite awhile. Fiction, especially fantasy and sci fi are the genres that I write on Medium. Hope to get more involved with your community of fiction writers. 💛

Expand full comment
Sep 7, 2022Liked by Jackie Dana, Lorelei Jonason

Good for you, Lorelei! Godspeed ahead!! Write for yourself and for those who care about you...the rest don't matter.

Expand full comment

The best part about having an audience of writers and readers is that they tend to catch you when you fall. I love the support system of writers that a place like Substack brings. Wonderful, thoughtful post, Lorelei!

Expand full comment

Good on you, Lorelei. I wonder if, in fact, the struggle to write quality stories is exactly the struggle to silence all those other false and negative narratives.

Expand full comment

Judgement is the killer of creativity. I recently completed--or think I did (see the judgement in that last?--short story. I have a poet friend who is my best reader--and she did some super minor edits via goggle doc that I don't understand how to use or how she even got the docx into google docs. She had NO comments--so I texted her last night (I hate texting) and asked her if maybe I'd had it--should quit? Her silence seemed to me to be damning. She did have comments that didn't show for some reason. I'm still waiting to see them and worried that I didn't make changes I should have when I sent it out to lit. mags. I care about, and I'm stewing in self-doubt that I tell my students NEVER to do. We are our worst enemies--and you are so right! xo

Expand full comment

What a powerful post! Writing is such a vulnerable act, and putting it out there takes a lot of courage. I also went through something similar with negative feedback. It took me years to get over it, but I’ve been slowly getting my confidence back, and now I’m looking forward to sharing my stories again! Keep writing and inspiring others 💗

Expand full comment

Powerful post. Very true. The imposter syndrome is a very real feeling for sure. I think it’s prevalent for writers particularly. Think about how much guts it takes to show our work to the world, to be vulnerable, to risk rejection, dislike, ridicule, even hate. To write truthfully and honestly is a proud and daring act.

Expand full comment

Did you know that once Alice Munro, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, once went, in Canada, to a workshop where the professor told her she had no talent. It took her six or nine months to rebirth her amazing gift. If you are in workshop where your colleagues and the professor throw out, as I like to say, "the baby", meaning the invention, "with the bath water," so to speak. Get out and find a teacher or mentor who "get's" what you're doing. Don't ever give up. I teach here https://marytabor.substack.com/p/inspiration-versus-perspiration and one-on-one, as I explain. xo

Expand full comment
Oct 8, 2022Liked by Jackie Dana, Lorelei Jonason

Thank you for sharing this.

About 2 years ago, I spiraled into a funk mainly due to so many rejections. My writing is eloquent and evocative, but not at all mainstream. Maybe that was my mistake, trying to fit in where I don't belong.

Recently I decided to change course. I have a large queue of stories (and continue to write more.) And I'm no longer going to sit around waiting for an answer from an impersonal black box submission process. Just going to take charge of getting my work out there for like-minded souls.

And you're doing it too. So glad to hear that. Keep in up! All the best.

Victor David

Expand full comment