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Delaware, United States
Deborah Hawkins, penned Debra Renée Byrd, began writing after a blank book project in elementary school and never stopped, fashioning stories based on her favorite TV shows and movies before creating more original works. She studied at the University of the Arts and Florida State University before settling down and graduating from Temple University. She now resides in her hometown of Dover, DE, where she spends most of her time at work or at church. She loves fantasies, superheroes, is a trekkie and a brown coat. She loves television and lives for Final Fantasy video games, having collected most of them. She has read a myriad of authors, and her favorite authors change whenever she finds a new book that changes her life... "When you can't run, you crawl. When you can't crawl...well, you know the rest." -Tracey, Firefly, "The Message"

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Wednesday, June 4, 2014

IWSG: The Thick Skin


Happy Wednesday! It's time for another meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! This group was created by Alex J. Cavanaugh, a master of all trades and our resident ninja! Stop by his page to meet the co-hosts for the month, and visit the Insecure Writer's Support Group for blog posts, helpful links, and the IWSG Participants list.

This past couple of weeks has been pretty exciting for me on the writer side. I was finally chosen as an entrant for the Query Kombat! And I followed and met about 100 other people through Twitter, even finding a beta partner in my opponent!

Together, we've endured some harsh but needed criticism, and had I made it maybe last year or the year before, I wouldn't have been able to handle it. One of the first things we're taught when we join the online writer circuit is to grow a thick skin. I never thought I would! I'm a naturally sensitive person, and it was hard enough putting my baby out there. I used to get really defensive and yell at my computer screen, but I'm learning to take my grumbling down to a 1 and reevaluate my writing. That thick skin grew!

So even if I don't make Round 2, I can still say I came out a winner!

7 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You learned something and that's just as important. Congratulations on making it past round one. Soak it up and learn.

cleemckenzie said...

How great that you're onto the second round! Thick skins do help. Here's to lots of success and more learning.

Jackie said...

Congrats on being chosen as an entrant for QK! Woot!

Rachna Chhabria said...

Congrats on making it into round 2. Getting a thick skin is the best thing we writers can do.

Anonymous said...

I didn't make it to Round 2, guys, lol, but thanks! :D

Unknown said...

Yes, you are a winner! If only because you put yourself out there. Good for you! Congratulations on making it to round.

emaginette said...

Congrats on the new beta reader & Query Kombat. Anything that toughens me up is good thing too. :-)

Anna from Shout with Emaginette