Fi Phillips

The word for 2017, so far, has been 'busy', in a good way. I'm not the only one living the busy life either. My email inbox is full of inspirational writing goodies so this month, I've three treats for you. Suzannah Windsor Freeman's blog post, 3 Things Small-Space Living Taught Me about Writing talks about overcoming challenges but also about getting back to the basics of writing. Elizabeth S Craig shares wisdom drawn from her personal experience in 5 Things About Being a Writer. Finally, Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn shares her thoughts and advice on self doubt as a writer. How to deal with self-doubt as a writer The Creative Penn

I recently joined the PTA at my children's high school (Parents and Teachers Association) because I felt I had something to offer in the form of my murder mystery fundraisers and past experience with PTA groups. I also wanted to help the school because any improvement in school resources has to help my children. Finally, I wanted to meet some new people and socialise outside my mainly home based existence. I was nervous about attending but had a lovely evening with parents and teachers alike. I came away happy and feeling that I'd offered up some useful ideas and generally added to the enthusiasm shown by everyone there. I arrived home chirpy and chatty. The next morning though, I began to doubt myself. Maybe I'd talked too much. Perhaps the teachers had just pretended that my ideas were good when actually I was being annoying. What if they didn't ask me back? What if I had earmarked my children as the offspring of that tedious, writer woman? What if, what if, wha...