I am a writer

Such audacious words. I have always felt uncomfortable saying them out loud, and I know so many other women have been, as well. My participation in women's writing communities like the International Women's Writing Guild (IWWG) and the A Room of her Own (AROHO) foundation has shown me that I definitely am not alone.

If there is one thing to learn from the IWWG or AROHO communities it is that women ned to write. It is an important gift to ourselves and the world. It doesn't matter what the topic is. The important thing is to engage, reflect, and reciprocate.

So many women writers seem to share common insecurities. We don't feel confident to call ourselves writers, sometimes even after publication. And heaven forbid we have lacked the time, finances, resources, & blind luck to find ourselves in the pages of professionally done books or magazines.

We feel clumsy in our efforts. We absorb every fleck of criticism and repell encouragement as polite or insincere. We negatively compare ourselves to other writers-especially other women writers. We question and negate our own voices.

But, as I read on a fellow woman writer's blog once, (I'm paraphrasing and I'm afraid I can't recall the origin)

"We can't stop writing out of fear of failure. The only way to fail is to not write."

Our voices can only strengthen and purify through the work and the time spent writing. We all have a perspective, and they all have value. They are contributions to the present and to the future. For our strong voices will inspire the girls of the future.

We have to keep going. We can make the world better for ourselves, our sisters/mothers/grandmothers/daughters, our non-human relations, and the world.

That is why-say it with me-

I AM A WRITER.


IWWG:  http://iwwg.org/
AROHO: http://www.aroho.org/