Wednesday, February 1, 2012

IWSG - Got Guts?

The following post is brought to you by the Insecure Writer's Support Group hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. 

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Guts: fortitude and stamina in coping with what alarms, repels, or discourages.

Gut check.

Gut feeling.

A gut reaction.

Gut response.

Gut instinct.

Go with your gut.

"Gentlemen, I don't find it easy to talk at a time like this, but I got to say something about that guy up there, and I can sum it all up in just one word: courage...dedication, daring, pride, pluck, spirit, grit, mettle, and G-U-T-S, *guts*. Why, Ted Striker's got more guts in his little finger than most of us have in our large intestine, including the colon." Steve McCroskey


So. Are you pickin' up what I'm puttin' down?

When our gut is talking we should be listening.

Our gut helps us write. It helps to steer the ship.

When we don't listen to our gut our story can sometimes fall apart or go off course.

Recently I didn't listen to my gut and I couldn't write for a few months. Forcing myself to sit back down I finally deleted a whole section of crap and was finally able to continue.

Something was wrong with the story and I thought something was wrong with me.

How do we tell the difference?

It ain't easy.

There is a level of trust, conviction and confidence that we need to attain in ourselves and our work in order to push through the insecurity and sit our asses in the chair and do what we do best.

Write.

7 comments:

  1. Loved this post!! It took awhile for me to listen to my gut with my writing. Contests were a great help for me attune my senses and trust my instincts. Always follow your gut :).

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  2. It's like that extra sense that we need to listen to!
    And extra points for the Airplane reference!

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  3. At 48 years of age, I learned that lesson a long time ago. Always trust your gut! Good thing I use it in my writing, as well.

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  4. i did that too. i was beefing up my story, i didnt want to cut anything! now i have plenty, and chop what i dont need with no qualms. my gut is happy =)

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  5. Great post! You definitely do have to listen to your gut when it comes to writing. It knows best.

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  6. Good ole intestinal fortitude! Gotta love it!! :)

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  7. Isis - It does take some time. We can't be impatient.

    Alex - Spidey sense? Close to it! Thanks for the points! I could always use them.

    Nancy - We do try to ignore it though, don't we?

    Tara - Happy guts are good guts! Ewww. That didn't sound right at all!

    Cherie - Thank you. It does know best.

    DL - That's it. Need more fortitude. STAT!

    HMG

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