Hello, friends! Welcome to this month’s meeting of the Insecure Writers’ Support Group, a blog hop created by Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosted this month by Shannon Lawrence, Olga Godim, Jean Davis, and Jacqui Murray. Are you a writer? Do you feel insecure? Well, then this is the support group for you! Click here to learn more and to see a list of participating blogs.
Each month, IWSG asks members a question. Answering the monthly question is not required. It’s totally optional, which is good news for me, because there’s a different question plaguing my thoughts today. A different question that keeps getting in the way of writing. It’s a question that my inner critic keeps asking in snide, Smeagol-like whispers:
You’re no scientist. You don’t work for NASA. What gives you the right to blog about space exploration?
And I admit, my inner critic has a point. I’m a huge fan of space exploration, and I probably do know more about space than the average person. But still, I’m a long way away from being a true expert. Plenty of others can speak with greater authority about space than I can. Some of my readers know more about space than I do.
However, when my inner critic asks these sort of questions—questions like “What right do you have to blog about space?”—I think my inner critic misses the whole point of my blog. I love space. I’ve committed myself to learning as much as I can about space, and I believe that learning is a three step process:
- Passive learning, which is the passive consumption of information from books, online lectures, etc.
- Active learning, which means (among other things) reexplaining the information you’ve learned in your own words.
- Receiving feedback, which involves people correcting your mistakes, asking interesting questions, suggesting topics for future research, etc.
From time to time, my inner critic reminds me that I’m not an astrobiologist, not a planetary scientist, not an aerospace engineer, and shames me into not writing. But that doesn’t just shut down writing. It shuts down my whole learning process. If I don’t do my blogging, how will I learn?
Is that answer enough to silence my inner critic? Actually, it is. Inner critics are cowards. They don’t know what to do when you talk back to them, they don’t know what to say when you stand up for yourself. Much of what I said in today’s post is specific to my own writing and my own issues with my own inner critic. But if your inner critic has been asking snide questions and shaming you into not writing, then I hope you’ll start talking back like I did. It really works.
i-love-space.com 
In my past, I spent a lot of time writing on various online platforms, including blogs. One project ended up being fairly profitable for a while, bringing in a fair amount each month for about a year or more. I excelled at disseminating information into something a bit more concise and readable for a general audience. I invested so much time into the craft of it, which felt balanced when I saw a return on that investment of time.
However, when I would get a bit more niche, diving more into topics that I found to be personally interesting, I noticed a significant imbalance. I was investing so, so, so much time into the craft of blogging, even more so when it came to topics I was passionate about sharing. The research, the fact checking, choosing the perfect image to accompany the post, the formatting of the post, etc. — it was a time sink.
I was essentially just writing for myself, and it was a little bit self-indulgent. Sometimes my writing would find the right audience, stir up a bit of discussion, and I got a bit absorbed into it. The dopamine rush, that feedback loop; it can be intoxicating. For me, it was unhealthy, so I all but quit the internet. I didn’t really have a goal though.
Perhaps you do though; to inspire people to learn, using your love of space as a vehicle to show how wondrous our universe really is through writing and your art!
Everyone has their own experiences though. For me though, I think of the internet and how we engage with it like an octopus. There are many arms, and sometimes they can push you forward, hold you back, or drag you down — and because of their many arms, sometimes several of those things may be happening at once!
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You’ve told me a little about your past blogging success before. I think it’s awesome that you were able to make some money off it, but I also understand the struggle. I’ve met a lot of writers who go back and forth between passion projects and projects that actually make them money. It’s a tough balance.
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You don’t have to be a scientist to write about space. Many writers write about things they aren’t experts in. They conduct research and consult with experts to feel confident that they’re accurate in what they’re writing. Historical fiction and murder mysteries are two genres where research is often required. I’m sure you know enough to write the stories you love to write.
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Thanks! This is another thing my inner critic doesn’t seem to get. When I’m writing Sci-Fi, I don’t need to get the science perfect. Good enough is good enough.
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Obviously I write about space, neuroscience, philosophy, history, and lots of other stuff without being credentialed in any of it. Ironically, I mostly stay away from my professional areas of expertise. I think being interested amateurs gives us the right to blog on these topics.
For resisting the inner critic, it helps me to see the mistakes others make, including the experts, or others who are seen as major players. We’re all human. We all make mistakes. I’ve had to post a few mea culpas over the years. It helps if we’re honest from the beginning about where we are.
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Being an interested amateur gives us the right… I like that! And I absolutely agree about being honest and upfront with our readers about who we are and where we’re coming from (which was my underlying motive for writing both this post and my previous post).
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You are becoming an expert by learning! And we can’t write just what we know. I mean, who really is an expert on dragons?
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Other than Tolkien, probably no one. And even Tolkien probably made up some of the stuff he wrote.
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What about what you love and if that’s space, then there you go. If someone is being judgmental about it, there’s a whole internet out there for them. Enjoy your passion and share it with others. There’s not a thing wrong with that.
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Agreed!
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Happy New Year! This is a great post on so many levels. I recently had a chat with my inner critic and I came out on top. The fact that you are actively learning and seeking information and knowledge gives you to right to share what you’ve learned. There’s nothing wrong with sitting back and taking information in just for yourself, but to then filter it out in a way that others can better take it in is a talent that’s often taken for granted. Despite what society tells us, not just anyone can share knowledge or teach. Yes, anyone can share data, but to present it as information takes either skill or talent, and I think you have both. You’re my expert on space.
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I get Smeagol-whispers all the time, but i ignore them more often than not. Still, they’re a challenge. They sometimes make me think i should just quit fiction writing and move on to something else such as selling vintage paperbacks online. But, too many times I feel like some other voice within me says I was born to write fiction (among other types of writing) and so I keep writing.
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