What do you regret the most in your writing career? Could you overcome it?

Insecure Writers Want to Know

Happy New Year, fellow writers! I hope your holidays were filled with treasured memories. May you have a healthy and successful 2022!

What do I regret most in my writing career? You mean besides that I’m not rich and famous and have millions of followers who truly care what I do each day? You mean besides that I haven’t won the Pulitzer in memoir or fiction?

Gosh! I don’t know what I regret most in writing. That I didn’t learn fast enough how to create fully fleshed out stories that others want to read? That I wasn’t exposed to the college setting until after I had five kids? That I didn’t have a mentor early in life to guide me through finding my voice in writing?

Nope! Like many writers, I had to learn the hard way—trial and error. Heavy on the error side. With limited funds and no free writing advice like we have here with Insecure Writers Support Group.

Understanding your past is key to living in the present. You can’t change the past. It has shaped you into the person you are today. You shouldn’t worry about how long it has taken you to get where you are in your writing journey. I try to make myself believe this. Live this. Severe regret can be ugly. I don’t wish to live with such ugliness. How about you?

*Please feel free to offer any insight you may have on regret. It would be truly appreciated.* 

It will be interesting to see how you’ve tackled this month’s question. It’s wonderful having a topic to share our thoughts on each month. I am extremely thankful for all of you for being my sounding board and advisors in this writing and publishing journey.

Thanks for stopping by my little spot on the web. Please come again!

This post was written for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I’d like to thank our co-hosts for January: Erika Beebe, Olga Godim, Sandra Cox, Sarah Foster, and Chemist Ken! Please visit them if you can.

Our group posts on the first Wednesday of every month. To join us, or learn more about the group, click HERE

38 thoughts on “What do you regret the most in your writing career? Could you overcome it?”

    • Absolutely, Alex! Never useful to regret or be upset about the past. Move on and try your best to have a positive future. All best to you, sir, in 2022!

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  1. Hi Victoria. I love you fun twist to the question. I wish I would have steered the creative writing track in college instead of fighting my mom so hard against it 🙂
    Happy IWSG day!

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    • Hello and welcome, Erika, to my website! I’m so glad you are here. There is nothing wrong saying I wish I did something different. The problem arises when we let it interrupt our lives.

      Thank you for your kind words. Hope to “see” you again here at Adventures in Writing. All best in 2022!

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  2. Happy New Year!
    Sometimes trial-and-error is the best teacher, as long as it’s not life-threatening.
    The word ‘regret’ is not the word I’d use because ups and downs form an integral part of this journey.
    Happy IWSG Day!

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    • Happy New Year to you, too, Michelle!

      Thank you so much for sharing your insight here at Adventures in Writing. You are so right. Trial and error are a part of life as are life’s usual ups and downs. They help us make better choices and look to our future and hope. All best to you, my dear!

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    • You are so right, Nick! Life is a learning journey all its own. Thanks for sharing your insight here at Adventures in Writing. All best to you, sir, in 2022!

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    • Well said, Lee! Bravo! Excellent advice. Thank you so much for sharing it here at Adventures in Writing. All best to you in 2022!

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    • Thank you for your kind words, Melissa. I truly appreciate them. You are absolutely correct. Regret can be a good teacher as long as we use it properly and not become lost in it. All best to you, my dear!

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    • Hello and welcome to Adventures in Writing, Elizabeth. Thank you for your kind words.

      You are so right. IWSG is a great place to find friendship and advice. That would be wonderful to all actually meet, for we really do need each other. All best to you!

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    • Again! You all have such wonderful insight. Thank you so much for sharing your insight here at Adventures in Writing, Sarah.

      Absolutely, we should be the master of regret and learn from it rather than allowing it to be in control of us. All best, my dear!

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  3. Hi Victoria!

    I have similar regrets. But, in my education, I strived for art/illustration/design. I never really thought about being a published author. I loved to read and actually minored in English Literature. In my second year, a professor offered to have an essay I wrote PUBLISHED in a major scholastic journal. I was NO scholar, and I thought she was ‘nuts!’ So, I declined … what an IDIOT I was. I can still kick myself for it. Now, FOUR decades later, I would kill for that chance again. I have seriously written for twelve years now, but sadly, nothing I wrote was published except for blurbs and introductions for other authors’ books. But, last month, my story was picked as one of the submissions for the IWSG ANTHOLOGY… Needless to say, I am thrilled~

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    • Hello and welcome to Adventures in Writing, Michael! Good for you for receiving such praise as being invited to publish an essay. That in itself demonstrates your worth as a writer.

      Patience, which writers find difficult to keep. Case in point–me! The trick is to convince yourself to continue writing. You are good enough. I loved your website. Keep at it, Michael. You can do this! All best, sir!

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    • More great advice, Shannon! Thank you so much for sharing this. Regret doesn’t make things happen. Practice. Hard work. New insight–like yours–help a writer improve and grow. All best to you in the new year!

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  4. Hi Victoria-Marie … excellent site … hopefully I’ll be linked in now … at least you’re writing and remembering … we can’t regret our lives -we wouldn’t be here now, if we did!! Cheers and all the best for 2022 – Hilary

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    • Thank you, Hilary. I so appreciate your kind words. And your patience in following my blogs. I’m trying to get my “welcome newsletter” together. Time. I just need time.

      Remembering and writing. Two important things when writing memoir. And then we need to interpret what it means to us. That’s the difficult part. All best to you, too, in 2022!

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    • Regret can be very damaging, Chrys. You are so right. It can stifle writers from continuing in their attempts to live their dreams of publication. We need to believe and move forward.

      Thanks for your kind words regarding my new website. Like I told Hilary above. I’m still trying to get my newsletter together. Time is difficult to find. All best to you!

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    • Hello and welcome to Adventures in Writing, Lori! Thank you for your kind words. Please stop by again! All best to you!

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    • Isn’t it though, Ken? Yes, experience and lessons can be more helpful than just plain studying. That’s why writers need to keep writing as they are learning new skills.

      All best to you, Ken!

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  5. I’m no fan of regret. Our lives unfold as they will, and as long as we make the best of where we are, we have nothing to regret. I think it’s especially silly to regret what we didn’t know in our youth! So keep moving forward–and I have to take a look at your camping blog. My boys are grown, but we did a lot of camping and backpacking with our two.

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    • Hello and welcome to Adventures in Writing, Rebecca! I’m so glad you stopped by. You offer solid advice here. We always need to make the best of what we have. We need to learn from any unfortunate experience and move on.

      It would be wonderful to hear of your experiences camping and backpacking with your children. Hope to see you at Camping with Five Kids! All best to you in 2022!

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  6. I try not to live with regret. I assume that everything that has happened both good and bad, is how I became the person I am. But there are some things I have regretted, like not being able to get to the phone the last time my mother called me. I took those calls for granted.

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    • You are so right, Elizabeth. We are formed by past events.

      I took care of my mother at the end of her life. She died of bladder cancer. It was an honor and I miss her deeply. I agree with you. Sometimes we take the good things in life, like calls from our mother, for granted. But I believe they know we love them. Still. All best to you in 2022!

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