Happy Friday everyone. Casey here. I’ve recently discovered evidence that the my sneaky adversary is up to no good. Look what I found!
To Do List:
5:10 am – wake up when Casey does. Whisper doubts in her ear about her WIP so she can’t fall back to sleep.
6:00 am – while Casey is doing her day job, read e-mail, catch up on latest DM news. Oh, look at the cute little puppy on Facebook!
8:30 am – Consider taking a class. “Character Assassination: 5 Quick and Easy Ways to Use Characters to Foster Doubt”. Or perhaps, “Your Author has been Published: New Fears and How to Foster Them.”
9:00 am – Decide to take both classes. More weapons in the arsenal of doubt are always a good thing.
12:00 pm – Lunch with fellow Doubt Monsters. Listen to endless complaints about how their authors have the delusion that authors and Doubt Monsters can be friends. Scoff at 
the idea. What is the world coming to?
2:00 pm – One more hour until Casey finishes the day job. Take opportunity to plant idea that time would be better spent on social media. And as a parting jab – remind her that she will never be free of the day job.
3:15 pm – Observe: Plan to steal Casey’s time with Facebook and lure of a higher Klout score appear to be working.
5:00 pm – Dinnertime. Torment Casey while she is cooking. Remind her that she’s been working on Mystic Storm since February. Ignore her counter argument that she wrote an entire book between May and June.
6:30 pm – Casey appears to be staring off into space. Her hands are on the keyboard but nothing is happening. Yes. Yes.
6:45 pm – Enlist aid of cat to distract her further. @#$@ Cat refuses to do my bidding.
7:00 pm – Uh. Oh. Casey finds my to do list. Yup. She’s making that super angry face. She flicks me away with rude gesture and bad words, then starts writing.Nooooo! Hey, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
9:00 pm - Am able to briefly tempt her away with a series of fun Facebook photos. But she soon returns to writing. Drat!
10:30 pm- Casey’s been productive despite my best efforts. Have no fear. Tomorrow is another day.
Yeah. Just bring it Doubt Monster. It’s on!
Anyone have a similar experience?
Your DM reminds you you’ll never be free of the day job? So does mine. It’s usually accompanied by this jab: You’re no ___________ (insert famous author of the month here).
My DM is a b*tch.
Oh, and I like swearing at my DM, too. If my DM can swear at me, I can swear back!
Go Meggan! Show her who the boss is! And I agree, swear back and carry a bigger stick!
Never realized the DM”s name was procrastination, but it’s so true. Whenever I’m at a sticky stage or stalled in my writing, the DM makes me play computer games, or fiddle with FB, TWit, etc.and I end up hating mytelf for being snookered.
Oh yes, Joy. The DM has many tools in its arsenal! It’s very sneaky.
My DM’s name is also procratination and excels at distracting and sabotaging me with its nonstop whispers of you can’t do this in my ear. Have to learn to ignore. Love this post!
Yup! The Doubt Monster is really wily. Ready to exploit you every second he or she can get.
Hilarious, Casey. Doubty’s favorite phrase to whisper in my ear is “You suck.” How lame is that? He has no creativity!
My goodness, that really is lame! He is obviously jealous!
Mine gets me with “Your writing is lame and pointless.” We should write a book, 101 ways to slay your doubt monster. My biggest problem is that I have to keep killing the stupid beast over and over and over…
Me too Jaleta!! I hear that one a lot too. Especially lately. I wish I could say being published helps but sometimes I think it only makes him more bold. The little creep.
Great post, Casey. Mine keeps telling me that the first book was luck and took all of my creativity and left nothing behind for the sequels. But I just signed contract #2, so BRING IT ON, doubt monster!
Awesome Cynthia! Congratulations! Take that DM!
I LOVE this, Casey! It’s sooo true. Just last night the doubt monster woke me up! Grrr.
Why thank you Owl Sister! Wow. Your DM needs a beating. How dare he or she wake you up!
Good one, Casey. My DM is always whispering “You call yourself a writer? HA!” or “You got lucky with getting a book published – do you actually think anyone will buy that? It’s crap!” I remind myself that the second book is coming out in 2 months (Yikes! Pinch me!) and I just keep writing. The DM gets steamed when I write and the more I write, the smaller his voice gets. Even some of the big name writers like J.K. Rowling are plagued by this beast, so we are in good company.
The DM and had a nice truce going there for a while and I thought I had him under control. Little did I know he was regrouping. I do think the DM has his uses and can be quite helpful in the right circumstances. But, like you said, at least we are all in good company!
Them damn DMs. We need to come up with a plan to shut them up for good. Oh! I have it. We’ll make the New York Times bestseller list and prove the DMs wrong. Even a DM can’t argue with a bestseller list.
Sit back and bide your time because you’re well on your way to shutting her up for good.
Great post.
I hate to say it Janna, but I know there are NY Times bestsellers out there who still deal with the DM. I think that, in some ways, the more success you have, the more pressure. And there is that fear in the back of your mind that you’ll never write a good book again. All conditions that make it right for the DM to slither his way into your psyche. Sneaky, sneaky.
Oh great post I swear that monster lives in my computer too.
Whoa. There’s a scary thought. Computer exorcism anyone?
Sacrifice some Twinkies – politically correct virgins…
Having a DM tell us that we’re challenging ourselves. I’d rather live a life doing things that are slightly outside of my comfort zone than live a life full of blah moments. That said, let’s call today a DM free day!
I am all for a DM free day! Thanks Jill!
Yup. He visits every day. I just smile and wave and try to ignore him. Doesn’t always work, though.
I agree, Shelley! I try to keep one eye on him at all times.